Of Gilded Lies and Beds of Potion Masters
by The Stranger Curiosities
Summary: Flora Winterstead has powerful parents. She has status quos to maintain for the public eye. But her seventh year at Hogwarts gets complicated when Professor Umbridge enters the scene, and Severus Snape discovers the secrets Flora keeps under the tightest security. She is a prodigee in two performances. The public appearance, and the secret, scandlous affair.
1. Chapter 1

There were a few more owls than usual this morning in the Great Hall. Being a Sunday, there were generally plenty, but three owls who were not regular visitors came to Hogwarts, delivering an envelope, a parcel, and a small package.

Flora Winterstead was now a grown witch, turning seventeen three weeks after the start of first term of her seventh year. She smiled as the three owls dropped off their deliveries to her place at Slytherin table. She looked at the envelope first, that was the polite thing to do, and her gran would give her a stern look if she were at Hogwarts with her.

Inside the envelope was a handmade card from her gran. Flora's mother was muggleborn, making her gran a muggle. Flora smiled. Growing up with both magical and muggle cultures, Flora learned to appreciate the two of them. Flora opened the card and there was a small paragraph of how her gran was so happy and proud, leaving a little 'I love you' at the end before her signature looped underneath.

Flora untied the string holding the parcel to find a new dress from her father. Being the daughter of a Winterstead, a respectable name in the British wizarding world and her father, Carson Winterstead, being the Head of the Department of Defense, Flora sometimes had to make appearances and had to maintain a status quo of Winterstead being a name of success.

She opened the box to find an arrangement of teas and coffees from around the world, magical and muggle. Flora's grandfather, Clyde Winterstead, enjoyed his retirement travelling the world, muggle and wizarding, where he would find peculiar things. Flora found a little note in the box that read.

'Some of these teas will come in handy for a powerful young woman such as yourself, I trust you'll use them well.

Have a wonderful birthday, and beware of your new defense against the dark arts teacher, your father has angrily ranted and raved about her for the past twenty years, I hope you don't find out why from her.

Best of luck,

Your giddy grandfather.

P.S., Grandma Lucy wants a family reunion come Christmas, I hope you are ready for quite a holiday.'

Flora smiled and put all her gifts away before returning to her common room to put them away. She took a quick glance in the mirror before leaving the Slytherin common room for her first class of the day.

N.E.W.T. potions.

Flora, being a Slytherin, had an easy time in any potions class. She was talented in potions, she had to be to reach the O expectation Professor Snape had for his N.E.W.T. students.

Flora actually got along well with her house head, probably because she was a modestly intelligent Slytherin who didn't cause trouble. Flora never had so much as a detention during her time at Hogwarts. Most thought it was because she was a goodie-two-shoes. In reality, it was because she was mostly a well behaved young woman, but when she did commit vice, she was smart enough not to get caught.

Flora entered the classroom and set her book bag down at her assigned seat. She was early, like always, reading any and all notes her potions professor had up on the board. Flora sat patiently as her other few classmates came in, sitting down and taking a mental note of what was on the board.

Then Professor Snape entered the room.

Severus Snape was not a beautiful man, most would call him ugly. Even with his long, greasy hair, sallow skin, and overlarge, hooked nose, he had intrigue. Flora was drawn to him, attracted to him.

Was it his height? Was it the fact he had been a strong, supportive figure through a very formative time of her transition from childhood to adulthood? Was it the soothing depth and calmness of his voice when he praised her potions and academic efforts? Was it her going completely mad?

Either way, Flora was confused about her feelings for her professor. Surely they would go away after she left Hogwarts. Flora, for now, had a dull ache for her professor she had since she started her fifth year.

Perhaps her attraction to her professor was a fantasy of rebellion from the demands her mother and father placed on her. Behave, excel in your exams, talk to the right people, don't disappoint your family and ruin their reputation. Perhaps Flora's fantasy was to be found by her father and all of his ministry friends in her potion professor's office bent over his desk and-

"Today, we will be making the draught of living death." Professor Snape said before Flora could finish the often visited thought in her head.

Flora listened to her Professor explain the potion and waited for him to give the page number. Once he did, Elizabeth used a spell so she didn't have to flip through the pages, read the instructions, her lips mouthing the words, and she got out her ingredients to make the potion.

She worked silently, as did everyone else, but she was more concentrated, more aware, and taking a peek at the instructions to make sure she was doing everything right.

When finished with her potion, she waited. Professor Snape tested each potion by dropping a small maple leaf.

"It would seem that Mr. Fitzpatrick and Miss Winterstead have two equally excellent draughts. Fifteen points to Ravenclaw and Slytherin." Professor Snape finished with before the bells rang. Flora packed her things and went to her next, and most awkward class.

Defense against the dark arts.

Professor Umbridge did everything in her power to create an unspoken tension between her and Flora. Flora hated it, especially as she was reading from a textbook and not actively using spells. She would much rather have Professor Dumbledore grant Professor Snape the position as the defense against the dark arts teacher and made Professor Umbridge potion's professor.

After Professor Umbridge sentenced two Gryffindors and a trio of laughing Slytherins to a week's detention, she also called Flora up to her office after class, despite Flora not doing a single thing wrong.

Once class was over, Flora did her best to ignore her nausea. Was the fact she got a warning from her grandfather about Professor Umbridge and now was called to her office on the same day a coincidence? She hoped it was.

Flora sat and waited for Professor Umbridge to shut the door behind her and took her seat at her desk. Flora looked around. The room was too immature to be called feminine, but it was too filled with antiquities like old hand painted, moving cat plates to be called girly.

"Miss Winterstead. Your father is Carson Winterstead, is that correct?" Professor Umbridge asked.

"Yes, professor." Flora answered.

"And your mother being Helen Winterstead?" Profesor Umbridge asked another question. Flora simply nodded this time. "The ministry has a sharp eye on your parents. More your mother than your father. I'm sure you know your mother's involvement with the Order of the Phoenix."

"She was once a part of it, professor." Flora corrected.

"Wrong." Professor Umbridge said plainly. Flora looked up at her professor confused. "Your mother has obviously been hiding from you that she had reunited with the Order of the Phoenix. Your father has reported this to the ministry out of duty."

"What has this to do with me?" Flora asked. She kept her appalled annoyance out of her voice, but it was building up inside of her the more she had to look and listen to the old toad.

"I have been asked by our Minister of Magic to investigate whether you have any involvement in this new reunion of the Order of the Phoenix." Professor Umbridge said.

"I'd like to think that our minister would have the common sense to piece together that someone who has turned seventeen today would have had any involvement beforehand with a magic organization." Flora said flatly. She watched Professor Umbridge get a visible twinge of irritation not at the tone of her voice, but when she eventually pieced together and understood the meaning of Flora's words.

"There are several underage witches and wizards involved with the Order of the Phoenix as we speak. It is not unreasonable to think you might be among them." Professor Umbridge's voice had the slightest bit of heat.

"Actually, it is. If my father reported my mother to the ministry, wouldn't have he reported me?" Flora asked.

"Clever, but I am sure that the father would give his wife's name to the ministry before he gave his child's name." Professor Umbridge said.

"Just slip some veritaserum in my water goblet and be done with it." Flora said. "I do have other classes, my next one being transfiguration, which I enjoy very much. Can you please not drag this out?"

"Be careful what you wish for, Miss Winterstead, you might just get it." Professor Umbridge said before filling out a pass for Flora and handing it to her. Flora took it gently.

"Have a good day, Professor Umbridge." Flora said, knowing flattery would improve her reputation with her defense against the dark art's professor. Flora walked out the door and to her next class.

She would be having a very long discussion with her parents come Christmas.


	2. Chapter 2

The weekend brought joy and celebration among Flora and her group of friends. They were all Ministry kids, their parents were high up on the ladder, and they all had secrets, some they shares amongst each other, some they knew would damn them if anyone knew.

Your average witch or wizard would call Flora's group of friends 'rich Ministry wankers' behind the backs of the very privileged group of friends. Though they were not as tight knit as they would appear.

They knew how to charm their way up to the top of the social ladder, and that involved getting the majority of people to like them. When they weren't together, they were casually chatting with other students, perhaps even a professor.

At the moment, they were in The Three Broomsticks enjoying butterbeer and a cake Flora's gran sent her. Grandma Lucy, her paternal grandmother, was a talented baker to say the least. The cake was under some sort of enchantment that when Flora's friends began to sing happy birthday, the flame of the seventeen candles acted like mini-fireworks and the sparks read a happy birthday message from Grandma Lucy.

"It's offical, we've all survived to adulthood!" Tanner Fitzpatrick cheered, raising up his mug of butterbeer. "A toast to the survival of childhood, Rita Skeeter's ridiculous press releases, and of course, Filch and his bloody cat!" Tanner said. The quartet raised their mugs and clinked them together before taking a nice, large swig.

"This means we are all old enough to go into the basement of Madam Puddifoot's." Lisa Manning said with a smirk.

"You do know what's down there, right?" Natasha Purewright asked.

"The only people who don't know what's down there are first and second years, and most of them hear it through gossip." Lisa replied.

"I don't even think half of them could even name half of what's down there." Charles Weston assumed.

"I hope they wouldn't be able to name anything that's down there." Natasha said.

"I have no interest in going down to Madam Puddifoot's basement." Flora said.

"Oh, come on, you're an adult, you've got to at least look around." Lisa pressured Flora.

"I really have no use for what's down there." Flora said in full honesty.

"You would if you listened to me and actually dated Mr. Bulgarian hottie you went to the Yule Ball with last year." Natasha said.

"He was just a friend!" Flora tried in desperation to defend herself.

"Really, Flora, you're an adult and you haven't dated a single person! What the bloody hell are you waiting for? The good ones will be gone by the time the month is over!" Charles told Flora.

"I'm just not interested." Flora said with an awkward laugh. "I already get enough written about me by Rita Skeeter, I don't need to give her fodder to keep her lousy journalism going for another ten years."

"If Rita Skeeter wasn't an issue would you date someone?" Tanner asked.

"No, because I'm not interested! Maintaining my grades to be an E or above is already hard enough with all N.E.W.T. classes, I don't need some date to juggle along with it as well!" Flora explained in defense.

"If you had time would you date?" Natasha asked. Before Flora could answer, Natasha added another question. "Have you even liked someone?"

"No and yes." Flora said laughing. "Alright, if it'll shut you up, I'll go down to that bloody basement!"

They finished their cake and butterbeer and headed off to Madam Puttifoot's. They went in and they walked to a staircase and went down it.

"There's an enchantment on the staircase. You can't touch the first stair if you're underage." Tanner explained. Flora smiled courteously.

Who didn't know that fact?

They entered a room that had a completely different aesthetic to the tea shop above. It was more mature, more sensual.

Some of the things Flora saw made her eyes go wide in shock. There were people who actually got off by wearing a centaur costume and fucking someone else in it? There were at least ten different brands of potions that enhanced people's response to sexual stimulation. There were even squid tentacle dildos here!

Flora was slowly losing her faith in sexually active people.

Flora eventually got to something that really got her interested. It was a small knut-like coin that served to do something Flora found as wicked as she thought it was intriguing.

The instructions that came along with it were basically to name anyone in the world and the coin would turn into a replica of their genitalia which the owner of the coin could stimulate, and the person of interest would feel it as if there was actual contact occurring.

Flora flushed deep red, she wanted to use this so bad, but she could never, that would be awful! Flora looked away from the coins and proceeded to look at the lingerie.

"They have Hogwarts uniform lingerie?" Flora asked. She knew the kink was out there, but that close to Hogwarts?

"How do you think Laura Gregor seduced Gilderoy Lockhart?" Lisa said laughing.

"Oh god, don't even mention that name!" Flora said. She, like many ladies, once upon a time swooned over Gilderoy Lockhart. Being a fourth year at the time, it was very delightfully awkward to be in his classes.

"You really have no use for Hogwarts lingerie, there are no Professors worth impressing!" Natasha said.

Flora nearly lost her ability to keep a straight face.

"Auror and Dark Witch roleplay set." Tanner said to himself, nodding in approval. "Nat! I've found something for us!" Tanner said to his girlfriend.

"Yeah, I'm going to get the Auror and Dark Wizard set for us." Natasha replied.

Flora was blushing really hard now.

She focused on the costumes to take her mind off her prudish embarrassment. They were very diverse. Ministry secretary, Quidditch star, Veela, it went on. But what really got Flora to giggle were a pair of panties that said on the front 'catch the golden snatch.'

"You know, I think I should get Flora one of these coins for her birthday." Lisa said. Flora's eyes went wide when from the time she lost track of Lisa to now, Lisa had found those godforsaken coins.

"I agree! I wonder who she'd chose to get all hot and bothered with that." Natasha agreed. Flora's stomach sank. "Since I have the privilege of sharing a dorm with her, I'm sure I'll get to hear who's on her mind."

"Really?" It was all Flora could ask in a little peep.

"Don't be prude, Flora, we aren't the Hogwarts founders." Charles advised.

"Okay, tell us who's on your mind, and we won't buy the coin for you." Lisa blackmailed.

Flora stood there, incredibly uncomfortable, eventually watching as Lisa bought Flora that coin, that awful, terrible, bloody fucking coin. Flora wanted to take that coin and destroy it as soon as possible. She watched as the coin was slipped into her pocket and she was dragged out of Madam Puddifoot's.

Flora couldn't even look at Professor Snape when she saw him on her way to the Slytherin common room.


	3. Chapter 3

The school year was stressful for Flora to say the least. She was often up most of the night and working for most of the weekend to complete her schoolwork. As September transitioned into October, and October to November, Flora found that her schoolwork was making her more isolated. She only chatted with her friends at meals, and maybe a couple hours during the weekend if she found an opportunity to not get caught by anyone who wanted to enforce Umbridge's rule of 'No group of students three or more.'

Professor, now also High Inquisitor Umbridge was especially on Flora's case. She had been asking Flora to come to her office after class more and more to interrogate her. Flora kept on telling her she knew nothing, but it was getting very apparent Professor Umbridge had a hunch she did, and was going to take the mickey out of her until she did say something to criminalize herself and her family.

Flora had not properly relaxed in a long while, but she finally had a moment where she could take a long bath instead of a quick shower. There was a bath in the Slytherin common room that was much like the one in the prefect's bathroom, but smaller.

Flora locked the bathroom door behind her and took off her clothes. When naked, she turned on the water and waited for the water to reach a satisfactory level. When Flora stepped in and let the water warm her body, she saw bubbles start to float around the air.

Flora cursed herself for not using the bath more often.

Flora found another opportunity to relax after her bath. No one was in her dorm, they were more interested in the first snow to be all cooped up in their dorms.

Flora laid down on her bed and closed her eyes. She wanted to sleep, but another part of her body had a different idea. Flora's right hand slowly moved down her body to in between her thighs.

There was immediate heat flushing inside Flora's body when she started rubbing her clit. Flora held back a quiet moan, but couldn't hold back any more as the sensations grew stronger, more demanding, telling her to put a finger inside of her. Flora obeyed, she was left breathless at the tightness, the heat, the wetness, the sensation. Flora fingers pumped inside of her until the demands her pussy gave her were to make come hither motions, her body wanted to come undone, and the patience she had to force on her body was getting unstable.

Flora was nearing the edge when she began to moan wantonly. She didn't want to say who was on her mind, but the lack of control over her body made sure that his name, his bloody name, slipped out, and with it, came a ripple effect of sensations spreading across her body.

She had come undone by being so stupid as to moan "Professor Snape."

Flora fell asleep minutes after that, snuggling up with her blanket, smiling as she drifted off dreamlessly.

Upon waking up, she looked at the time. It was five thirty, dinner was about to start. Flora dressed herself quickly, cursing herself because she slept naked when any of her dorm mates could have found her like that. Flora fixed her hair, cleaned the mascara under her eyes, and reapplied her lipstick before going down to the Great Hall for dinner.

Flora found herself particularly isolated. She sat with Natasha, and Tanner, Lisa, and Charles would come to her table to chat quickly, but she didn't engage in any of the conversation. She could hardly relate to anything. Boyfriends, girlfriends, Quidditch, chess team, nothing seemed to click with her that night.

Had she been so out of the loop and focused on school that long?

Flora sighed, she wished she had the option of taking regular seventh year classes, but with the career she wanted, to potentially take her father's place as the Ministry of Defense Head, she had to take N.E.W.T. classes. She would find time for a social life after school, right?

Flora didn't eat much that night, she noticed that Professor Umbridge was staring at her the entire time during supper, and it ruined her appetite. Flora internally cursed the wretched woman, she felt her body tense up again like it was before her bath. Flora, after forty five minutes of being under Professor Umbridge's accusing stare left the Great Hall and went back to the Slytherin common room, it would do her well to study her notes again, anything to get away from the controlling toad of a professor.

But as Flora made her way through the corridors, she saw Peeves. Flora tried to ignore him, but he kept bouncing around making annoying sounds.

"Is mummy Winterstead being naughty and joining illegal wizarding groups?" Peeves said jeeringly.

Flora ignored him.

"Do you reckon mummy will get caught? Do you reckon it will matter because daddy's job will make sure she gets nothing more than a slap on the wrist?" Peeves continued.

"My mum will later be caught doing what she is suspected of doing than you meeting the wrong end of my wand." Flora snarled quietly to herself.

"Miss Winterstead." A familiar voice called out. Flora turned around to see Professor Snape following her. She stopped walking and turned to face him. This was out of the blue, she went down the list of things he would want to talk to her about at this hour, and that list had nothing on it.

"Professor, how is your evening?" Flora said.

"Follow me." Professor Snape said, completely ignoring the polite question.

Flora followed him to his office. She was confused to say the least. She looked around the office to see if something was taken that she could have been suspect of, but everything was where it was supposed to be.

"Miss Winterstead, sit down." Professor Snape ordered. Flora sat down at the chair in front of his desk, watching him sit down in his own chair behind the desk. When she saw his eyes, she became frightened, she had never seen him so angry.

"You are lucky I don't expel you from both my class and this school." Professor Snape started. Flora's eyes grew wide and confused. "Confused expressions and lies will not work with me, I know what you did behind closed doors this afternoon."

"What would that be?" Flora asked, her voice trembling.

"Miss Winterstead, I am sure you know that masturbation is already against school rules, but to fantasize about a teacher is beyond unforgivable." Professor Snape said. Flora's heart dropped. She was dead, she was royally dead. "Also, looking in your dorm, I found this." Professor Snape, setting down the coin Lisa had bought her. "You have broken several school rules, all of which are dire. Give me one reason why I should not take you to Professor Dumbledore and have you expelled." Professor Snape paused. "Perhaps I should even tell the High Inquisitor as well."

"I suppose there are no justifiable reasons, professor." Flora said after thinking on it.

"Wrong." Professor Snape said. "Your father would make short work of getting me fired, and possibly even sending me to Azkaban. So that leaves the question of how to punish you."

"I don't know, sir." Flora muttered.

"You will have detention for three months at nine in the evening, and during that time, you will be assisting me in making veritaserum. Professor Umbridge has demanded I make a supply readily available for her to use when interrogating students. Fail to show up on time, fail to create a proper brew, fail to do anything you're supposed to, and you will be immediately expelled. Is that understood, Miss Winterstead?" Severus explained. Flora nodded, trying to hold back tears of embarrassment. "Leave, now."

Flora weakly stood up and clumsily speed-walked out of the office and to the Slytherin common room, where she didn't even respond when Natasha said hello. All she did was go to her dorm and go to bed.

Of course she forgot to cast a silencing spell! Of course she just had to make things harder for herself! Of course Professor Snape was disgusted by her lust for him! Of course! Of course! Of bloody course!


	4. Chapter 4

"So you got three month's detention because you tried to hex Peeves but accidentally hit Snape?" Charles asked. "Bloody hell, if you weren't Snape's shining model student, you would have probably gotten expelled!" Charles, being a Gryffindor, could not comprehend how Flora was still in school.

"My parents are going to kill me!" Flora said. "I've never gotten a detention! What do you even do in detention?"

"Scrub cauldrons." Charles said.

"That doesn't sound that bad." Flora said.

"Yeah, if Snape let you use a wand." Charles added.

"Nevermind." Flora replied. "But I don't know how I'm going to keep my grades up! They're nine o'clock detentions, that cuts into my studying time!"

"Drop a class or three, it's not going to hurt your chances of following in your father's footsteps." Charles suggested.

"Absolutely not! I will keep all of my classes and I will maintain a grade of E or higher in all of them!" Flora raised her voice.

"Will you when you're scrubbing cauldrons for the bat for a third of the school year?" Charles asked.

"Stop it, my father is probably writing furiously right now concerning my detention. I'll be getting a Howler most likely." Flora said. "This is dreadful! Charles, how do you manage to get so many detentions? This is humiliating!"

"As long as you're not expelled, it's no big deal in the long run. So why not rebel while you still can?" Charles answered.

"Because it cuts into your studying, which affects your grades, which affects your future!" Flora raised her voice again.

"I think a few A grades in N.E.W.T. classes won't hurt you." Charles told her.

"I want to be the next Department of Defense Head, not the next Filch!" Flora replied haughtily.

"You have the same attitude as Filch, so you're not convincing me." Charles said.

The afternoon eventually became eight fifty in the evening. Flora was already in the potion's classroom, waiting for Professor Snape to show up. She was organizing her station and getting the ingredients to brew the veritaserum with. She was nearly finished when Professor Snape walked into the classroom.

Flora was a pretty girl, a stunning girl at that. Once in a while, you would see a picture of her dressed up at a Ministry event in a Rita Skeeter column of The Daily Prophet. Flora, for the most part, knew how to be a respectable, intelligent young lady.

Even Severus Snape had to silently give credit where credit was due. He knew he was in a position that droves of men would have killed to be in. He wondered how the bloody hell Flora ended up having an attraction for him, it went against everything he thought of himself and the world around him.

Here she was, long, blonde hair up in a bun, making sure it wouldn't come in contact with the potion. The clothes she wore at the moment were sexless, an oversized sweater, jeans, and boots, but Severus remembered how she looked at the Yule Ball last year, her body was soft and curved. He had seen the way men looked at her that night, he heard what they said, and by the end of the night, he had felt the need to threaten Flora's date, who looked like he was going to tempt her into finding a carriage to hide out in.

She could be all his if he allowed it, all he would have to do is allow the young woman before him to sate his lust for whatever period of time he may have wanted her.

No! She was a student! Her father was high positioned in the ministry! It was absolutely not an option, as incredibly tempting as it was to use her to warm his bed, to destress, to do anything with.

She turned around, her blue eyes filled with guilt, pleading, and were attempting but failing to hide her longing.

Merlin's bloody pants, dark wizards seemed easier than this.

"I've set up, Professor." Flora said timidly. "I've got the instructions as well."

Severus Snape was fighting an uphill battle.

"Begin then." Severus said, not showing any of his inner conflict in his voice. "I will not be assisting you tonight, I will be grading essays. You will brew the serum for the next hour, and you will leave, is that understood?" Severus said. Flora nodded. "Good." He said. "Miss Winterstead. What is your cover for why you are getting detention?" Severus asked.

"I tried to hex Peeves but hit you on accident." Flora answered. Severus nodded, approving of the lie. Flora went on to prepare the veritaserum. It was quiet, awkward, and tense. Three months of this, Flora would have to put with three months of this!

"I'm sorry you ever had to find out my feelings for you, Professor. I had no intention of confessing them." Flora said.

Severus had an idea.

"Perhaps we should test this batch of veritaserum, see if it has been brewed properly." Professor Snape suggested. Flora nodded. She watched as Professor Snape grabbed a small bottle off one of the shelves and used wand magic to fill it with the brew Flora just prepared. "Come to my office." Severus demanded. Flora lowered her head and followed her head of house into his office. He sat behind his desk, she sat in the chair in front of his desk. Flora grew confused at her professor's next action.

He made tea for the both of them. Black, one without cream and sugar for him, one with for her. He handed her the black teacup and poured in the veritaserum, filling the room that was left empty.

"Veritaserum is better served with something to neutralize it." Professor Snape informed her. Flora began to sip at her tea. It was still a little bitter, despite the accommodation of cream and sugar her professor made for her, but she dared not complain.

When she finished her tea, she set her cup down and looked at her professor, letting him silently know that she was ready for any question he might have for her.

"Were you intending on using the coin that was found in your possession?" Professor Snape asked.

"No, Professor, my friend bought it. It was my birthday weekend and my friends thought it would be funny to drag me into Madam Puttifoot's basement. I had no intention of using it on anyone." Flora confessed.

"Did you know of your mother's involvement with the Order of the Phoenix before Professor Umbridge revealed it you?" Severus inquired.

"No, she didn't even make the slightest suggestion she was." Flora answered.

"Do you believe Harry Potter's claims that the Dark Lord has returned?"

"I have no opinion."

Severus thought long and hard about whether he dared ask his next question.

"Explain your feelings for me, start at the beginning, all the way until this very moment." Severus asked.

"I started having feelings for you at the beginning of my fifth year." Flora began. "It started as a silly little crush, but my feelings progressed to much more during the Yule Ball. I knew how men looked at me that night. I knew how tempting I looked, even with long sleeves and only a peep of cleavage showing. I saw so many men look at me lustfully, but you didn't. In fact, you aimed to maintain my chastity when you warned Ivan Penekov not to try anything. That moment I wanted you to just rip my dress off my body and claim what was yours by consent, your voice sounded so possessive to me at the time and it was intoxicating. I've basically forced myself to be every teacher's and parent's wet dream to avoid disappointing people and ridiculous gossip articles written by Rita Skeeter and lusting and fantasizing about you was my one little escape from all of that but now that you know and so obviously take offense, I can't even have that without feeling guilt and I've officially torn apart your image of me being a perfect, bloody little angel!" Flora's voice got increasingly louder and more enraged. When she finished her statement, she buried her face in her hands and started crying.

Severus groaned, he should have never asked the question in the first place. He should have known this would happen! He watched as Flora eventually composed herself.

"In theory, if this affair were to occur, would you tell anyone of it?" Severus asked.

"No, not even my friends." Flora answered.

"Friday night, you will be in this room before dark, understood?" Severus said. Flora nodded. "Good. You are dismissed."

Flora stood up and walked back to the Slytherin common room and curled up in bed. She actually was going to have an affair, with her professor! He actually wanted it to happen! Flora scolded herself, he didn't say it directly, so there was no need to fixate on it.

But if her predictions were right, she was in for an even crazier school year than she thought.

Her seventh year had no way of getting any crazier.


	5. Chapter 5

The sunset of Friday quickly came to Flora like a freight train with firebolts instead of wheels. Flora prepared after classes were over. She made sure her legs were shaved nice and smooth, she tidied up the hair on her pussy, and she ate light and small during dinner. She made no special changes to her clothes or appearance, she didn't want to give the wrong impression in case this wasn't going to turn out an affair.

Flora walked down to the dungeons, the walk felt faster than it was, it felt as if she were being pulled against her will. The gravity of what could happen tonight had been a weight on Flora's shoulders for the past week. Now, the revelation was so close, it drove Flora mad.

She entered the potions classroom and waited. She didn't have a seat, she just watched from the door leading into the hallway as the last sliver of sundown descended from the sky and into the hills.

"Miss Winterstead." Professor Snape's voice said behind her, making Flora jump from fright. She turned around to look at her professor, looking like his usual self, standing right outside the door of his office, no twinkle in his eye as if there were to be an affair.

"Professor." Flora greeted, her voice soft and nearly inaudible.

"Come here." He calmly demanded. Flora submissively lowered her head and walked to her potion's professor. He moved aside. "Go straight into my office and stand at the door."

Flora obeyed. She stood at the door, watching as her potion's professor opened it. What it revealed made Flora blush as it did her heart drop.

His chambers were decorated tonight in a way that Flora could not deny Professor Snape had full intentions of bedding her. She walked into the chamber in awe of how unexpectedly beautiful it was. Candles floated around the room, rather like the great hall, but these candles were smaller and fewer. The room was neat, his desk was organized, as was his bookshelf, and his bed was pristinely made. She would have pictured something a little more Slytherin-y, but the bed had a cedar frame and green cotton sheets with a cream colored blanket over them.

"Professor, I'm in awe, it's beautiful." Flora complimented.

"If I am to be horrible enough as to even have this affair with you, I would like to think you deserve something more than some brute fucking you on the hard, stone floor." Severus replied.

"It's perfect. Not too showy, not too, well, as you put it, brute fucking me on a hard, stone floor." Flora said with an embarrassed laugh. "But even if I was on the floor with you, you would not be a brute."

"Miss Winterstead, I will be completely honest with you about the fact of why I reciprocated your feelings, it would be cruel not to." Severus said. "I have laid with many women in my youth, and not so much anymore. But I have never been wanted by a single one of them. You wanting me, you moaning my name, I finally have the very thing that I never thought, what I was told I could never have." Severus stoked Flora's soft cheek.

She looked at him with sympathetic, adoring eyes. She wrapped her arms around his waist and pulled him against her. The feeling was intense, but natural at the same time.

"I'm yours, Professor." Flora said tenderly. "Come, I need to wash up." She said smiling, burying her face in his chest, leaving a little kiss.

Flora walked through the archway that lead to the bathroom. There was a bath, larger than the one in the prefect's bathroom. Flora waited for her Professor to follow her in. She turned on the water with a wave of her wand. She watched the water run for a little bit before she looked at her Professor.

She started to undress before him. Her desire outweighing her fear. She unbuttoned her blouse to reveal she wasn't wearing a bra, taking Severus by surprise. She unzipped her boots, shrugged off her jeans, and was left with the virginal, white lace of her knickers.

Here was what could have as easily been a Veela as a witch. The creature before Severus walked towards him. Her face innocent, her breasts heavy, her hips moving in a natural sway. She stroked his chest before she began to undress him. Removing his robes, unbuttoning buttons, kneeling down to remove his shoes, socks, trousers and pants. She made short work of him. As she stood back up, she looked him in the eye, she knew he was enjoying this. She let her eyes and fingers wander and trace around his scars, her gaze and touch lowering until she gently ran her hand over his limp cock.

Severus knelled, grabbing her knickers and removing them, watching them fall down her legs, her feet stepping out of and kicking them aside. The two had made short work of each other. Severus stood back up and watched Flora step into the bathwater, steaming hot, hearing the sigh that came out her throat from the heat. He joined her after taking time to admire her backside.

Severus sat down a grabbed Flora, pulling her so she was on top of and facing him. Flora gasped, here she was, naked and straddling Professor Severus Snape, potions master and head of Slytherin house. It was more delightful to her than what she could have ever fantasized before this point.

"Here you are, finally getting what you have craved for the past two years." Severus said. "How does it feel to straddle your professor in the bath?" He asked, making Flora shiver.

"Better than anything, professor." Flora replied.

"I love how submissively you say professor, how you still cling onto every proper thing you can while your naked body is flush against mine." Severus said with an unnerving chuckle that left Flora breathless.

The two of them kissed and continued to bathe for the next several minutes. Eventually, Flora stopped kissing her professor and held his face in her hands.

"Take me to your bed." Flora softly plead.

Severus stood up and helped Flora onto her feet. He dried the both of them off with wandless magic before leading Flora to the bed, feeling the stirrings between his legs as she climbed onto the bed and laid down on her back. He remembered something important he would have forgotten if he went further. He grabbed a trio of miniature bottles, one filled with pink liquid, the other red, the other blue, off of the end table and gave them to Flora.

"Contraception, pain relief, and healing. All brewed by myself, all specifically catered to help a woman with her first time copulating." Severus explained. Flora felt warm throbbing between her thighs when he said 'copulating.' She blushed and proceeded to drink each potion before laying back down again, spreading her legs, giving her professor inviting, lustful, yet ever so innocent Bambi eyes.

Severus smirked, his model student was now making a whore of herself for him, and he would taste a sweet fruit that would never cease to be forbidden.

To experience the feeling of being wanted made an even worse criminal out of Severus Snape.


	6. Chapter 6

His kisses on the inside of her thighs were so light and soft, silky was an adjective that did no justice for what Flora's professor's lips felt like. His lips drew closer and closer to the prize that awaited, already glistening, wet, and blushing. Flora watched with awe as her professor finally had his lips against her pussy.

Flora's dumbfounded silence ceased with a sharp gasp. It even distanced more when Professor Snape's tongue separated the folds gently. Flora's breathing grew heavier as he teased her, his tongue curiously feeling and tasting around her before the tip of Severus' tongue ghosted over her clit.

The attention stayed there. Flora began to feel heat and throbbing pleasure in the little bump, and moaned louder as the pleasurable agony pulsated more and more throughout her body. Flora's body jerked the tiniest amounts, her chest felt tight, like she couldn't breathe, yet the moaning was coming out with no barriers to stop it and no will propelling it.

While Flora's body remained in pleasure, there was a sudden growth of intensity of sensation in her clit that made the rest of her body almost seem nonexistent. She screamed, her body spasming without control, her back arching up, her arms tensing. She was not coherent or in control enough to scream her potion master's name, but the way she screamed was no doubt a song of praise and pleading for more.

She laid there sated for the next few minutes, her eyes twinkling, her skin rosy, her pouty lips parted, she was the image of satisfaction. The rise and fall of her breasts was slow as she breathed, the air was warm in her lungs, it made her drowsy.

Professor Snape's body slowly ghosted over her's, stopping when he could feel his cock against her wet cunt. Flora gasped, unable to react much after the experience her professor gave her. She looked in her Professor's eyes, blue to black, giving her silent consent for him to deflower her.

And he did.

Flora threw back her head and whimpered in surprise at the sensation. This wasn't like her fingers but larger, it was different, very different. Flora was already tight around him, she felt a pulsating heat in her chest when she heard Professor Snape groan as he remained still, feeling her constrict around him, from tip to hilt.

Flora repositioned her head and watched him regain enough composure so he could thrust in and out of her. Flora wrapped her arms around her professor when the pleasure in her cunt began to kick in. The throbbing sensations left Flora very vocal, moaning, screaming, begging her potion's professor for more.

"Professor!" Flora's voice was demonstrating the lovely agony she was in.

"Severus, when we are together, call me Severus." He groaned his request as his hips slapped against hers.

"Severus." Flora moaned, her voice dainty and innocent, like the expression on her face as she looked at her professor affectionately. "Oh, god yes! Severus! Severus! Please!" Flora's voice crescendoed as she was nearing the edge. A few more sharp, hard thrusts left Flora coming undone.

"Lily." Severus' voice said melodically as he reached his undoing.

Flora, while basking in the afterglow, couldn't help but feel devalued.

Who was Lily?

When Severus laid down next to her, he brought her into his arms, holding her tightly as he realized he did not say Flora's name.

"Severus." Flora began, her voice timid. "Who's Lily?" She asked.

"A woman long dead, but a woman who will haunt me for as long as I live." Severus replied.

Flora had to remind herself that he only wanted her because she made him feel wanted. She kept on replaying the same words over and over again in her head.

What she thought would improve her mood actually made her want to cry even more.

Flora made efforts to stop focusing on the fact she was here now, this was only the first time, maybe in time, Lily would slip from his memory and Flora's name would pass his lips. For now, she nestled against her lover, learning his scent and the rhythm of his breathing as he slept.

Flora did eventually find her thoughts catching up to her. She got out of bed, grabbed her clothes, and began to redress. It would not do well for either hers or Professor Snape's reputation for her not to be seen back at her dormitory by morning.

"Where are you going?" Severus asked her.

"You and I don't need people questioning why I'm not in my dorm in the morning." Flora said as she buttoned up her blouse.

"If this is about-" Severus began before being interrupted.

"It's not. This is just precautionary action." Flora said once she was fully dressed. "Call upon me the next time you need me." She said with a false smile before turning around and walking out of her potion professor's chamber, out of his office and classroom, and down the dungeons to the Slytherin common room, where she made short work of returning to her dorm without any trouble.

She went into the bathroom, cast a silencing spell, and began wailing. She couldn't take what he had just done to her. He had made her feel so amazing, so alive, and then he called her Lily.

The realization that she wanted more than sex with her head of house was crippling. She wanted him to want her, not this Lily who apparently has been dead for ages! She wanted to be the woman on his mind, she wanted him to think of her as she thought of him.

She felt like everything she wanted was being granted, but in a sick, twisted way that left her not wanting it anymore, but with no way to escape it. Flora cried even after there were no reserves left to create tears, she cried until she simply had no energy to.

That was when she weakly picked herself up from the bathroom floor, and stumbled into bed, not even changing her clothes for pajamas.


	7. Chapter 7

Severus and Flora had not done so much as talk after that fateful Friday. When Flora was in detention, she did her work diligently and then left when the hour was over. Flora still hurt because of her professor calling her Lily, that she lost her virginity to a man who was using her like a cock sleeve.

The following Wednesday, in Transfiguration, Flora was scribbling down notes as Professor McGonagall lectured. She and the rest of the class were interrupted by an unsolicited entrance. The class turned around to see Professor Umbridge waltzing into the room. She had a smug look on her face, the same smug look she had when she nearly got Professor Trelawney fired.

"Miss Winterstead, I have news for you. I require that you follow me." Professor Umbridge instructed. Flora looked down and started to collect her things.

"If you have anything to say to Miss Winterstead, you will say it in front of me and this class." Professor McGonagall said sharply.

"You're in no authority to speak, Minerva." Professor Umbridge sneered.

"Since Miss Winterstead is a student in my classroom, I have the authority, Dolores. Speak now, or leave and wait for Miss Winterstead to finish her lesson.

"Miss Winterstead. I would like you to know that under the direct orders of the Minister of Magic, Cornelius Fudge, your mother has been arrested for the crimes of trespassing on Ministry property, breaking the peace, and slander." Professor Umbridge told Flora. "There will be a trial tomorrow and you will be present and testifying." Professor Umbridge then turned around and walked out of the transfiguration classroom, Flora barely hearing Umbridge's little chuckle before the door shut behind her.

Flora kept still. She knew that all eyes were on her, but she had to maintain professionalism. She took her quill in hand and began to scribble down the few pieces of information she had left before Professor Umbridge came.

"Class will be dismissed." Professor McGonagall said. All of her students packed their things and made their way out the door. "Miss Winterstead, please stay behind."

Flora, who was almost out the door, walked back towards her professor and stood in front of her.

"I will be writing you a pass for you to spend the day at the hospital wing. Madam Promfrey, besides being a good nurse, is suitably trained in mental health as well." Professor McGonagall told her.

"That won't be necessary, Professor." Flora said.

"Your mother has been arrested, surely you are struggling with that." Professor McGonagall said.

"She deserved it." Flora said, knowing she would have to lie. Professor McGonagall's face went cold. "She broke the law, she will now see the consequences. I have no hard feelings towards the Ministry, I mean, it's silly that my mother insists that he who must not be named has returned, if it were true, the Ministry would have reported it as so."

"Flora, how can you say that about your own mother?" Professor McGonagall asked, amazed at the words she just heard come out of this girl's mouth.

"My mother is a fool who will believe anyone. She's a political extremist, banded with an illegal organization that is now taking the word of a boy over the word of the Ministry." Flora said.

"Get out of my classroom, Miss Winterstead." Professor McGonagall said sharply. "You're more your father than your mother, a Ministry coward. I had hoped you were more than the shortcomings of Carson Winterstead."

Flora turned around and walked out of the Transfiguration classroom, her face was hardened, she showed no expression. Her own mother was arrested and there was no way she could show anyone that she was in pain over it.

Later that night, Severus and Minerva were in Albus' office. He had called the both of them up for a meeting regarding the recent news of Helen Winterstead's arrest.

"Flora is in agreement with the Ministry over her mother's arrest. She said so herself. I do not wish to bring these thoughts to the table, but I must. Carson Winterstead reported his wife to the ministry, he did not use his influence to stop her arrest, and now that you mention that several sources have told you he and Lucius Malfoy have started to be in close contact outside of work are all pointing to how questionable Carson Winterstead's allegiances are. His daughter has supported the decision of her mother's arrest as if she had wanted it. Albus, I think it is time to consider that Flora and Carson Winterstead might be preparing to align with the Death Eaters." Minerva said.

"Carson Winterstead is a confusing man, but he is no Death Eater." Albus told Minerva.

"If I may interject, I must agree with Minerva on one thing. Carson Winterstead, the Head of the Ministry of Defense being in close contact with Lucius Malfoy is reasonably suspicious. However, Flora has no involvement. It would be ridiculous to think she would be siding with Death Eaters when she is hardly seen doing anything but studying in various areas of Hogwarts." Severus said.

"For her to agree with her mother's arrest is enough evidence for me that she is up to something." Minerva snapped.

"The High Inquisitor and a majority of students would make the girl's life miserable if she didn't wholly express her agreement with the Ministry's arrest of her mother. Flora is an incredibly talented liar, after almost seven years of having her as my student, I have learned she makes her way through life by lying about how she feels on issues that could put her in the spotlight if she chose the unpopular answer." Severus explained.

"I agree with Severus." Albus said. "She has become solemn since the Ministry has become even more involved in her life. I would not be surprised to see Flora reach her breaking point if her mother is to be sentenced to Azkaban."

"So what will we do if she reaches that breaking point?" Minerva asked.

"St. Mungo's is our best option. Flora, during her fourth year, proved more than capable at Gilderoy Lockhart's duelling club, with progress since, there would be more dire consequences should someone find themselves at the wrong end of her wand." Severus explained.

"If that is what must be done, it will be done. I cannot risk losing Helen Winterstead as part of the Order over not taking care of her daughter." Albus said. "Helen's abilities are nothing short of necessary while we are at such a small number."

"Perhaps you should let go of Helen's loyalties to her daughter and remind yourself Carson may be a Death Eater and Flora shows more of her father's traits than her mother. With Flora's mother out of the picture, Carson Winterstead will have more of an influence over his daughter than ever. It would be easy enough for Carson to make marriage bargains with fellow Death Eaters using his daughter to prove his loyalty."

"Carson Winterstead is a man of power and does not gamble with his power. Being Head of the Ministry of Defense and negotiating with Death Eaters is not in his character." Albus explained.

Severus watched blankly while thinking. It was his duty to escort Flora Winterstead to the Ministry and to bring her back. He knew tomorrow would not go well, and he had so little time to prepare for the worst.

The night was long, and the day would be hard.


	8. Chapter 8

It was an hour before the trial would occur, and Flora still was coming to terms with the fact her mother would probably end up in Azkaban.

Flora was ready and waiting outside Professor Snape's office. She had on her long, double breasted, black wool coat and the three-quarter sleeve, fitted, royal blue dress which hit below the knee that her father gave to her for her birthday. Her hair was done in a sleek french roll, she wore a pair of small, black heels, and she had seamed stockings on underneath her dress. She held a black clutch filled with what she needed, her manicured nails absentmindedly tapping the dragon hide.

All she was waiting for was Professor Snape to find her and they would be off to the Ministry.

When Severus arrived, Flora was surprised to say the least. He looked different. Very different.

He had washed his hair, and even stranger, tied it back out of his face. He still wore black robes, but these had a different quality to them, made more luxuriously than the ones he wore on a day to day basis.

"I am sure you are well aware of the floo network, Miss Winterstead." Professor Snape said.

"Of course." Flora said, feeling a pang in her chest when being referred to as 'Miss Winterstead.'

Professor Snape lead her into his office, where the fireplace was perfectly empty, on the side hung a basket filled with floo powder. She and her Professor grabbed a handful of floo powder, stood in the fireplace, and with a deep breath, the two of them before dropping the powder said.

"Ministry of Magic."

The next thing they knew, they were in the Atrium of the Ministry. It wasn't an unfamiliar place to Flora, not in the slightest. There was the usual hurry and traffic, but what was still relatively new for Flora was the large banner of Minister Fudge hung above everyone, like a grim reminder that a fool like him had power over everyone else.

Flora and Severus, for now, were able to walk peacefully to the courtroom the trial was held. They knew well reporters would be waiting outside after the verdict was made. They were early, and they took their seats as designated to them by a secretary. Flora sat up front, since she was to be questioned, but her professor sat in the very back.

Flora's father then entered the room with Minister Fudge and Senior Undersecretary Umbridge. Flora's heart dropped twice. Once when she saw her old toad of a professor, but when Lucius Malfoy was also to be involved in the trial.

Lucius was a very predatory man when it came to women. Flora was lucky to not see the severity of how far he would go to succeed in one of his conquests, but Lucius had on a few occasions hinted her to start a relationship with his son while sleeping with him during last summer's Ministry event.

He wanted both pieces of the pie. He wanted Flora to marry his son while he used her for his own gain. Lucius, while undeniably handsome, was married, and Flora dared not venture in that scandalous territory. Flora, when it came to Lucius' son, had no opinion of Draco besides seeing him as a sightly arrogant teenage boy from an old bloodline. He was nice enough to her, considering she was in Slytherin and both of their fathers worked together from time to time.

What really terrified Flora was when her father took his place among the jury, but Lucius Malfoy was directed to sit next to her.

"Good day, Mr. Malfoy." Flora said, hiding her emotions, as per usual.

"Good day. I see you are doing quite well for yourself." Lucius observed. Flora had to conjure all of her willpower not to start laughing.

"Yes, I am. Classes are going well." Flora said, hardly able to bear the awkward tension between her and Lucius. "Did you witness my mother's crimes?"

"Yes, it was very much like your mother to do something like that. I can't see why your father married such a wild creature." Lucius said with an unnerving chuckle.

"I have no idea why I'm making a testimony, but here I am." Flora said, adding a fake laugh.

"The Ministry must assume that you are working with your mother." Lucius said.

"Oh, yes, student taking all N.E.W.T. classes and getting an E or above in all of them definitely has the time to be part of an illegal organization with her mother. I see the logic." Flora said sarcastically, Lucius laughed.

"Speaking of school, how is Draco? He hasn't replied to my letter at the beginning of the school year and poor Narcissa worries over him." Lucius asked.

"Draco is now part of the inquisitorial squad. He really enjoys his position." Flora said, not trying to show her discomfort of Lucius.

"It makes me happy to see him in extra circular activities that will do well on an industry résumé." Lucius said.

"Mr. Malfoy, I have a certain feeling that with a bloodline like Draco's, he hardly needs a résumé to get anywhere." Flora said, giving Lucius a little smirk to show that she didn't mean that as an insult. In fact, Lucius seemed to take it as a compliment.

"You're a smart girl." Lucius said. "Certainly taking after your father's bloodline."

"Professor McGonagall agrees, but she doesn't mean it as a compliment." Flora said.

"Do away with the old hag, the opinions of anyone who is close to Albus Dumbledore is no matter to you." Lucius replied.

Lucius was trying to flatter her. What he didn't know was that it was actually working unlike last summer. Flora was getting uncomfortably aroused. She couldn't deny she wanted Lucius, but she knew she couldn't have him if she wanted to keep her image clean.

And she knew Severus was watching closely.

Flora's mind let her know that she was a whore in the making.

Any thoughts of her being a whore eventually washed away when her mother was finally brought into the courtroom.


	9. Chapter 9

Helen Winterstead was a mess to say the least. Her clothes were ragged, her body and face were littered with cuts, and she was dirty and from what Flora could see, had dried blood on her skin.

Clearly, her mother was after something she really shouldn't have considering that she was as beat up as she was.

The trial began, the charges of the accused were read off, and they began to call key witnesses to the stand. Lucius was called first. He stood up and began to describe what happened.

"Mrs. Winterstead was leading a small rally of protesters into the Ministry, claiming that the Minister of Magic was a liar, a coward, and even went as extreme as to say that Minister Fudge was part of, or under the control of Death Eaters. They were shouting, destroying various articles of Ministry property with magic, including the banner in the Atrium of Minister Fudge. When Mrs. Winterstead was asked to leave, she refused, and when we were forcing her to leave, she attempted to pull out her wand and duel. I disarmed her, and, ironically, Mr. Winterstead was the one who arrested her." Lucius recounted.

"The name is Helen, Lucius." Flora's mother muttered to herself.

"You will speak when you are spoken to, Mrs. Winterstead." Minister Fudge snapped.

A few more witnesses were called to the stand. They had the same story, and, of course, Helen had a snide remark to say about each and every witness.

The Flora was called.

Flora nervously stood up and went to the stand, waiting for the questioning she was about to receive.

"Since your mother has been most noncompliant, I do hope you are more wise and mature to give us the answers we need." Minister Fudge said. Flora nodded. "Where is the headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix located?"

"Minister Fudge, I don't know." Flora said.

"Did you know of your mother's involvement in the Order of the Phoenix?" The Minister asked.

"No, not until Senior Undersecretary Umbridge told me." Flora answered.

"Do you know of any illegal organizations present in Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry?"

"None that I know of, sir." Flora replied. She was lying. She had heard about Harry Potter forming a secret, 'proper' defense against the dark arts club few days ago.

"Are you sure you have answered these questions honestly?" The Minister of Magic asked.

"Yes, sir."

Minister Fudge and Professor Umbridge looked frustrated at the fact they couldn't get a peep out of Flora.

"You may return to your seat." Minister Fudge said, begrudgingly allowing Flora to not be picked apart. She lowered her head and returned to her seat next to Lucius.

A couple more witnesses were called to the stand and her mother gave her statement before the final decision was to be made. Flora waited nervously, it was well determined before the trial happened, but the official proclamation made Flora feel ill.

The majority of the jury raised their hands in favor of her mother spending the next five years in Azkaban, her father among them. Right after she noticed that, she heard her mother screaming at her father, calling him a traitor and words similar. Flora was also internally shocked at her father's vote, she watched as her mother was dragged off, where she would be taken to Azkaban, where she would face five despicable years under the watchful guard of the dementors.

Flora's face went hard. The only way she wouldn't be able to show her emotions were to be absent of them all together. She eventually walked out with the rest of the Ministry, and she already saw the flash of cameras pointed at her direction. She walked stoically through the journalists and photographers without saying a word. Everything seemed louder, more vivid, and more separated. Flora, at that moment, didn't process the flash of the camera and the sound of reporters nagging her for details as one monstrous blur like she usually did, but she sensed everything like she had been in an impossibly quiet room and someone dropped a galleon on the ground.

Eventually, when the reporters were too rowdy, Severus had to rush Flora through the Atrium and to the nearest fireplace. But since the crowd was too close, Severus simply grabbed Flora's arm and apparated out of the Ministry.

When appearing in Hogsmede, Flora could hardly function due to sensory overload. She fainted, falling on the snow covered ground. Severus groaned and casted a spell that acted like an invisible stretcher. He walked back to Hogwarts, his passed out student floating beside him.

Not very surprised, Madam Pomfrey was already waiting in the courtyard, Professor McGonagall and Professor Dumbledore were there with her.

"She passed out after apparating to Hogsmede, her mother has been sentenced to Azkaban for five years." Severus explained. Poppy gasped before leading the three other professors and the unconscious student to the hospital wing.

"The Ministry has overstepped its bounds once again. Five years in Azkaban for disturbing the peace." Poppy input her opinion, spiteful anger in her voice. "Clearly, they have no idea how foolish they are acting because Cornelius Fudge doesn't want to accept the fact he who must not be named is back."

Madam Pomfrey readied a bed and Severus lowered Flora's unconscious body onto it. She looked truly peaceful here. He realized just how close she was able to perfectly fake being at peace in the most uncomfortable situations. Come to think of it, this was the first time he ever saw Flora truly at peace. Her doe eyes closed, her lips parted with a gentle pout, and her chest rising and falling slowly.

"Dumbledore." A sharp voice spoke with a hint of discovery. Dolores Umbridge stood in the doorway, only walking into the hospital wing when she was noticed by everyone except for the unconscious student. "I see Carson Winterstead's prized flower is not taking to the fact of her mother's arrest well."

"You have no part in this." Dumbledore spoke gently, sending Dolores aback.

"I think it is important for the High Inquisitor to know that Miss Winterstead was perfectly fine until exposed to multiple cameras, flashes, loud noise, and then apparation afterwards. If it were the shock of her mother being sentenced I can assure you she would have collapsed prior to walking out to find journalists." Severus explained.

"Very well, but if she shows one sign of lament for her mother, she will be worse than expelled." Dolores said before sharply pivoting and walking haughtily out of the hospital wing.

"Worse than expelled, I will have her explain the details of such a promise." Madam Pomfrey spat.

"I fear she will use her medieval torture methods she has used on other students. I have been suspecting that our fellow professor has something more in store than a black quill." Minerva said, the disgust in her mouth was potent.

Severus knew that Flora would have no issue hiding the distress she felt about her mother's sentence, pretending to be perfectly fine, to be the perfect little Ministry daddy's girl, was her specialty.


	10. Chapter 10

Within a few hours, Flora came to. She felt groggy for a minute, not really acknowledging anything, but eventually, the events of that day hit her like a freight train. Luckily, Flora was alone, besides Madam Pomfrey.

Flora was checked on to determine whether she could leave. It was determined she could, and Flora got out of bed and walked out of the hospital wing.

Only to find Draco Malfoy waiting for her.

"Flora, I see you are well again." He said.

"Yes, I am very well. The camera flashes always at least give me dizzy spells." Flora said.

"What of your mother? What happened with her?" Draco asked.

"She was sentenced five years in Azkaban." Flora said. She noticed out of the corner of her eye Professor Dumbledore, Professor McGonagall, and Professor Snape walked into the same corridor she was.

"How unfortunate." Draco said.

"It isn't. She broke the law, she sided with political radicals, she now has consequences for those actions." Flora said.

"She is still your mother though." Draco said. Flora could sense the insincerity from a mile away.

"My mother chose the Order of the Phoenix over my father and I, she is not my mother anymore. It's for the better that she's in Azkaban." Flora said, walking away from Malfoy, thankful that he didn't try following her.

The trio of professors followed her and stopped her. Flora looked up at them, glaring, not at Severus or Minerva, but Albus. Needless to say, her finally being able to express her emotion, it was coming out tenfold, and the burn of her gaze could have been dragon fire.

"Professor Dumbledore. I hope your happy. You stole my mother from me. You brainwashed her into thinking you know who was back, you told her to protest at the Ministry, you-" flora was interrupted.

"I stole nothing from you. Your mother is not an object for you to possess. She has her own free will." Albus said.

"You brainwashed her! You lied to my mother! You took my mother away from me so you can he the big and powerful wizard who is going to defeat the already dead Dark Lord who you're saying is back! You used her!" Flora went off, screaming at her Headmaster with the likes no one knew she could achieve. The girl had never screamed before, the girl had never lashed out at anyone, especially not the way she was lashing out at Albus Dumbledore.

Severus noticed that students were starting to crowd the hallways to watch this episode.

"I will not see my mother for five tears because of your lies, your ego, your need for the world to be in fake chaos so you can save it! I've had enough! Harry Potter is a bloody liar and you're even more of a git than he is!" Flora screamed.

She made the mistake of drawing her wand.

Albus drew out his, but to the world's surprise, Flora's anger, the release of years of resentment that she was forced to keep bottled up, the pain she had from her mother's sentence, all of that made it so she did something no one, including herself, thought she could.

She was able to cast a silent levicorpus before Dumbledore could could deflect the spell. He rose in the air. While he himself remained calm during the ordeal, everyone was freaking out.

"You will never touch my family again! Not my father, not my mother, not anyone! Is that understood you bumbling oaf?" Flora hissed.

"Miss Winterstead, put Professor Dumbledore down at once!" Minerva spoke sternly. Flora looked at her, smirked, and dropped her intention immediately, not even bothering to gently lower her headmaster, who landed at her feet with a loud thud.

There were gasps at how crass the whole situation was. There was a sigh of relief in unison among the watching crowd when Dumbledore, despite his age, stood back up. He looked at Flora as he would have before she levitated him.

"You just demonstrated some fine magic, Flora." Albus said calmly. "It makes me proud to finally see you demonstrate your full potential."

Flora anger died down and turned into shame. She knew what she did was wrong, grossly wrong. She should have been immediately expelled, not congratulated. Flora looked down, turned around, and made her way to the Slytherin common room, shoving past the crowd before her tears were audible to the group she left behind.

"Shall I send notice to Carson Winterstead that his daughter has been expelled?" Severus asked.

"She has not been expelled." Albus said. "Severus, follow me to my office, I have something to explain."

Severus followed Albus to his office, a common occurrence. Albus took a seat behind his desk and looked up at Severus with a smile.

"Lemon Drop?" Albus asked.

"No." Severus said. "Why aren't you expelling Miss Winterstead?"

"Because she has her own place in defeating Voldemort." Albus said. "A domestic place, but a place nonetheless."

"How so?" Severus asked.

"Minerva's suspicions were right about Carson Winterstead. He knows the Death Eaters will overtake the ministry at anytime, so he has just begun in making deals with them." Albus explained.

"What has this to do with Miss Winterstead?" Severus asked.

"Carson Winterstead will force Flora's hand in marriage with Antonin Dolohov's son, Amelio, when she is finished with her schooling. That will prove his loyalty to the Death Eaters." Albus explained.

"And we are not to take preventative measure?" Severus asked.

"No." Albus replied.

"Amelio Dolohov will surely torture Miss Winterstead until she is dead, are you sure it is wise to not stop this?" Severus asked.

"Miss Winterstead simply needs to become Mrs. Dolohov and give Amelio a child and then the steps that can be taken before the demise of Voldemort can take place. Her and Amelio's child is the link that will allow all the pieces to fall into place. All I ask when you are called upon by Lord Voldemort is to make sure Flora survives her marriage until her child is born." Albus explained.

"I will do what is necessary to assure Flora's safety even after she has Amelio Dolohov's child." Severus said cooly.

"I'm glad you think so highly of Flora, but do not get so attached that you cannot bear to lose her." Albus told him. There was a tense silence before Dumbledore said. "Console her, she won't be getting it from anyone else."

Severus turned around and strode out the office and down the corridors until he saw Flora with a small piece of paper, crying her eyes out.

"Miss Winterstead, follow me to the hospital wing. You are not in your right mind." Severus said.

"Umbridge is making me stay during Christmas. My father and her agreed on it." Flora spat bitterly. "I've lost my freedom from the Ministry this year, my mother is in Azkaban for the next five years, I've lost my mind, and now I don't even get to see my family during the holiday. I just want to know what else I might lose this year." Flora snarled before walking away from Severus, who stood there watching. Flora's hair was untidy, her walk was aggressive instead of her usual passive, graceful stride.


	11. Chapter 11

The holidays came fast. Despite all the support she was getting from her friends, Flora had only recovered enough so she could pick her happiness performance back where she started.

Or at least, until Flora escorted her friends to the Hogwarts Express.

Flora was standing with her friends at the station, listening as they talked about the joy that this holiday season awaited them. She waved goodbye as they one by one got on the train.

Natasha was the last one. But she stayed for as long as she could to give Flora her best wishes.

"Flora, I will write to you, and you had best reply, or else you're not getting your Christmas present." Nat said with a laugh that was shared with Flora. "I can't imagine how hard this must be. I mean, I wish I could stay, but I can't."

"Your family needs you more than I do. But I really, really appreciate the sentiment." Flora said. Natasha gave her a sad smile, sending Flora into tears. The two friends reached each other and embraced in a warm, sympathetic, comforting hug. Before they pulled completely away, Flora gave Nat a loving kiss on the cheek before Nat finally had no more time to spare and had to get on the train.

"I love you!" Nat said.

"I love you more." Flora sobbed in bittersweetness before seeing the door close and the train begin its journey back to London.

Flora's tears decreased as the train grew more distant from the station. She sighed when she finally saw it disappear, turning away and walking back up to Hogwarts solemnly. The last joy of her holiday had passed before her eyes, and she was braced for the once again hopeless feelings she began to transition into.

Severus watched from afar. Flora walking back to Hogwarts, alone. He had never seen her so alone, she generally was talking with people, laughing with them, adoring life like it was the greatest gift ever bestowed to her. Now she stood in the snow in a solitude he related to, a solitude he lived his for the majority of his life.

Flora eventually entered the courtyard and walked back into Hogwarts. Severus, after the discussion he had with Albus, couldn't look at Flora without seeing her in a white gown, arm in arm with her father, walking stoically down the aisle only to be married to Amelio Dolohov. He then saw her fear as the future transpired, and the all Flora would make of her power and intellect, was to be the submissive (or otherwise dead) wife of a cruel, insolent, narcissistic boy who was nothing more than the accomplishments of his father.

Severus knew he had to let Flora go. Not even just as a woman, but as the student, and he knew he would have to go so far to let go of her as a human.

All she was in Albus Dumbledore's, Carson Winterstead's, and the Death Eater's plans was marriage meat. A name to change, a womb to fill, a mother whose bond with her hypothetical child would force her to remain loyal to her husband and the Death Eaters.

That was what Severus needed to start seeing her as.

It was easy to pretend, Severus knew that as a spy, but emotions never truly changed.

"Severus." A familiar, soft voice said. Severus turned around to see Flora. She smiled gently, walking towards him and standing next to him, looking out where he had watched her from afar. "I noticed you were watching me." Flora said. "So here I am, Christmas at Hogwarts. It should be interesting enough." Flora began. "I've always wondered what happened in Hogwarts at this time of the year. I wasn't eager to find out, but life has a funny way of forcing new experiences on you."

"I spent one year at Hogwarts during Christmas. It's perfectly boring." Severus said.

"Sometimes all we need is a bore. A long drawn out period of boring. That's what I thought this year would be. N.E.W.T.s, N.E.W.T.s, N.E.W.T.s. Boring, boring, boring. I was excited to be bored. Look how that turned out. We now have the Ministry of Magic making extra sure every child is indoctrinated, we don't have any decent defense curriculum, and my mother was put in Azkaban for five years over an incredibly small scale, slanderous riot in the Ministry." Flora stopped, looking out, trying to figure out whether she should ask the question she wanted to. "He really is back, isn't he? And the Ministry doesn't want to take any sort of responsibility?" Flora finally spit out. She and Severus looked at each other, Severus gave her a small nod.

"Yes. You know who has returned, growing stronger each day, gathering followers, killing people that the Ministry insists are not linked murders." Severus said quietly.

"I wish I had the freedom to be like my mother. I wish I was brave. The only time I'm brave is when I'm overtaken with anger." Flora said. "I want to be more than my father's shortcomings, as Professor McGonagall told me the day I got the news of my mother's arrest."

"Bravery is what gets people killed. Act on what is rational." Severus explained.

"Better dead for something than living for nothing." Flora said. "All I've been so far is a rich Ministry girl who has done what she is told. It's gotten worse as I've grown up, but this year especially, I have known what it's like to spend time worrying that I don't have a purpose." Flora paused, trying to find the right words. "You're the only thing that has made me feel purpose this year. The small praise you give me when I answer a potion's question right, your knowledge, that's it. With everything that has happened I fear I'm going to lose that, that I'll fall from your grace."

Severus, to both his and Flora's surprise, grabbed Flora and kissed her roughly against the lips. It grew more gentle until their lips finally separated.

"You can't fall from my grace. You're not an angel, you're far more than that. You are a woman; loving, passionate, yet also can be indifferent and monotonous. You need to be somewhere that will finally permit you to be a woman." Severus said before kissing Flora again.

"Could we make do for now with your bed?" Flora asked.

Severus grabbed her wrist and pulled her back into the corridor. He eventually let go and she followed him down to the dungeons.


	12. Chapter 12

They hardly even reached the potion's classroom before kissing again. Severus casted a spell to close the doors before giving Flora his undivided attention. Flora's arms were wrapped around his neck, Severus splayed his hand on her back and pushed her body so it was flush against his.

What they thought would become heated passion actually grew chaste. Their intwined bodies did not lose connection, but the connection they had grew softer, lighter, and smoother. The desperate clashing lips now rested upon each other unmoving, Severus' other hand rested at the curve on her waist, and the one that was on her body before it moved to the equally delicious curve on the other side.

Their lips eventually separated, and Severus saw that Flora was blushing, smiling, yet had tears forming in her eyes.

"I'm sorry. I don't know what has become of me." Flora said with an embarrassed laugh.

"I am not Dolores Umbridge, you don't have to apologize for every insignificant action." Severus said. He knelt down to the floor, his hands joining him on the descent from her waist to her hips. He pressed the side of his face against Flora's front. She was warm, she had the sweet smell of her lavender soap, and the smell of wet, earthy, womanly musk between her thighs was growing more and more dominant in Severus' nose.

What spell was she forced under to be so willing and wet for him without business venture?

"Severus." Flora said, her voice starting to grow weak and airy with her lust. "I need you."

Severus stood back up and gave her a chaste kiss on the lips before leading her to his chambers where she very slowly began to strip for him. Her heavy winter cloak was on the floor with a simple unhinging, Her cream colored, fitted winter sweater joined her cloak. Severus then placed Flora so she was sitting on his bed, watching him as he removed her kitten-heeled boots. He removed her wool skirt, and then looked at Flora as she was before him in nothing but her soft, cream colored, lacy bra and panties while wearing a black garter belt and wool stockings. She, even after losing her virginity, was impossibly virginal.

Flora moved her body from Severus' hands and laid on the bed, soon joined by Severus, who's hands were lowering her bra cups so he had the perfect view of her hardened nipples. He licked the one on the left, took it in his mouth, sucking it gently, his tongue occasionally joining his lips to dart around the sensitive skin. Flora, whilst moaning, let her hands venture into the greasy tresses of hair on her lover's head. She gently massaged his scalp, which Severus enjoyed more than expected.

Severus gave the same treatment to her right nipple, worshiping it with tongue and lips until it was just like the other one, deliciously flushed and peaked. After his ceremonious ministrations on Flora's breasts, his lips ghosted lower, kissing her ribcage, trailing down her belly, until he stopped right above her panties before taking his wand, removing the remaining clothing on her with a softly said incantation. He grabbed her thighs and parted them, wrapping them around his neck before tasting the sweet nectar of her blushing, throbbing cunt.

Flora gasped and threw her head back. He feasted on her with increasing gluttony and greed, she could feel his teeth nibble at her pink labia and it drove her wild. He sucked on her labia and moved his mouth up until her clit was the center of his attentions.

"Oh yes!" Flora screamed, followed by continuous, loud, pretty moaning. It was almost pathetic how much she needed her professor's touch. "Yes! Severus, I'm so close!" Her voice was weakening.

And that was the moment Severus stopped, right before she went over the edge. Flora whimpered, watching her lover cast a spell that had her bound her hands on each of the headboard's posts.

"Severus!" Flora whined.

"Shall I gag your mouth as well?" Severus asked. Flora grew even more aroused. "Actually, I know for a fact you'd like that." Severus went to the dresser and pulled out something from one of the drawers. Flora eventually recognized it and flushed with embarrassment.

"That's my diary." She uttered. "You read my diary."

"It would seem you've put a charm on it that only a few select people can read it." Severus said. Flora was completely red in the face with embarrassment, but her little pussy blushed harder with desire. "While the curse you put on it should anyone unfavorable try to read it breaks a multitude of school rules, I can see why you might after reading it."

"Rita Skeeter. I saw her turn into a green beetle, she could have snuck into my dormitories and stolen it, also I don't know who might have tried to sell it." Flora stammered. "I had to protect myself somehow."

"Reading your diary would have been a delight for Rita Skeeter, but I have found myself just as entertained as she would have been." Severus said. "Shall I begin?" Severus asked.

"What?" Flora asked, hoping he did not mean what she thought he meant.

"The twenty fourth of December in 1994. The Yule Ball was a fantastic event, it, to my surprise, far surpassed any Ministry event I went into. Though, I must confess, it did break my heart when The Weird Sisters began playing, as much as I enjoy their music, I had hoped for the timelessness of beautiful waltzes and dance to remain throughout the night, the band made it less special and ceremonious.

But when the ball was over, Professor Snape came up to my date and I and warned my date to remain behaved.

The small, stupid pain of not having had the privilege to dance with Professor Snape began to bother me more than it should've had. I am a sixth year, he is a professor, it could never happen.

Of course, a night I was trying to ignore my feelings for him, ended with me regretting not being his. I wanted to go back to his chambers arm in arm with him, not walking alone to the Slytherin common room. I wanted him to remove my dress with his large, beautiful hands, not me using my wand. I wanted to lay with him in his bed as lovers do, not lay alone in mine with my right hand up the skirt of my nightgown.

Yule Ball was fantastic, I had lots of fun, but when my feelings hit, they hit hard.

Until the next event,

Flora." Severus recited. Flora's mouth was dropped and her eyes like saucers.

"Let's find a more graphic entry." Severus started, he flipped the pages until he found the one he wanted.

"The thirty first of August, 1995. Well, tomorrow will be the first day of my seventh year, and a few weeks later will be my seventeenth birthday. I am beyond excited to finally become an adult witch. Along with more freedom with magic, I can only pray I will find more freedom with something else.

Perhaps that 'something else,' will lead to me bent over Professor Snape's lap getting spanked mercilessly for whatever reason. I feel so dirty about the fact more than half these bloody entries mention his name, but I can't help it. I can't tell my friends, they would think I'm mad, I certainly can't tell him!

I also feel cliche for wanting the unorthodox detention fantasy to come alive with my potion's professor.

Well, I hope after this year is over, he will haunt me no longer and I can perhaps relearn some normality." Severus read.

"I-I." Flora stammered.

"I have read every entry, several that are even more detailed and graphic than this. You have some interesting fetishes. Submission and bondage are common enough, but humiliation, sexual slavery, and exhibitionism are very curious desires to come from a studious young woman who hides from humiliation and publicity." Severus said. Flora looked like she was hardly breathing. "Which little fantasy of yours would you like me to make a reality?" Severus asked.

Flora felt frozen in her own shock. She just stared at her professor blankly with wide eyes, not knowing how he could be so calmly reading her deepest, darkest fantasies like they were a nursery rhyme.

"No answer?" Severus asked. "Very well, I suppose I will keep doing what I want."


	13. Chapter 13

He returned to his bed, undoing his trousers and pulling out his hard cock. She was incredibly wet for him. He placed the head against her entrance and slowly slid inside of her, paying attention to Flora's face as he filled her more and more. Flora's held in breath escaped into gasps when he began to fuck her. Flora's moaning was now accompanied by those of her head of house.

He fucked her harder than the night she lost her virginity to him. She felt more vulnerable while she was naked and Severus was basically still clothed. After all of the teasing and sexually stimulating embarrassment from earlier, she was ready to come within minutes of Severus fucking her.

"Severus! Oh bloody hell! Yes, I need to!" But before she could finish her sentence, she entered the place that she was not quite at her coda, but close enough that she could not create a coherent word, only moans, squeaks, and whimpers. She looked her professor deep in the eyes, unwavering, their gaze revealing more about what they wanted, and the intensity of two lovers reaching the destination they set out for was growing with every sharp, fast, continuous thrust of Severus' cock into Flora's tight, wet, throbbing cunt.

Flora came first, but was very soon followed by Severus. Flora felt her cunt fill up with his warm, thick cum after he grabbed her hips roughly and pushed himself as deep inside of her cunt as possible.

"Flora." Severus moaned.

Flora couldn't help but smile. He, in that moment, wanted her, not a woman long dead, but her. When he laid down beside her, Flora couldn't help but turn her head and watch him post-coital. His breathing, his eyes, the way his sallow skin had a strangely lively hue. He was beautiful, and he was her's.

She curled up against him, feeling the utmost joy as his arms wrapped around her. For the first time in a long while, she felt content. Even if this content feeling was just for a moment, she was thankful she would have it to hold onto for the rest of her life.

"You're remarkable." Flora said softly. Severus looked at her. He didn't smile, but she knew that she was not alone in experiencing something positive for the first time in awhile. Severus' hand cupped her face and he kissed her gently, as if she were a breakable object.

The pair fell asleep for a few hours before Severus woke up. He got out of bed without waking up Flora, which wasn't hard, she was sleeping deeply, not to his surprise, he could tell she might have only slept ten to twelve hours a week after her mother was arrested. He was tempted to end her detentions so she had the chance to get some sleep, but a more selfish, dominant side of him enjoyed her company too much.

He redressed, putting his cock back in his trousers, before leaving his chambers. He looked at the time, and he realized Dumbledore wanted to see him in fifteen minutes.

Severus strode through the corridors of Hogwarts that took him to Dumbledore's office, but he was stopped by one woman he wanted nothing to do with at the moment.

"Snape." Said Dolores Umbridge. "Where is Miss Winterstead?"

"She's very likely in the Slytherin common room." Severus said. "What is your business with her? Surely you've made the girl's life public and dreadful enough."

"The Minister of Magic has concluded after my report to him about Miss Winterstead violently, savagely attacking Albus Dumbledore that she is a danger to everyone around her and must be dealt with accordingly." Umbridge explained.

"What does Minister Fudge intend to do with my student?" Severus asked bitterly.

"The specifics are none of your business. Now, I want to see Miss Winterstead." Umbridge quipped.

"She is my student, therefore, it is my business." Severus said.

"She will be interrogated with the help of veritaserum." Umbridge replied.

"We both were there the day she was formally interrogated by the Minister of Magic, I see no reason why she should be interrogated yet again." Severus said.

"That is not your decision to decide. Now, I will wait until I find Miss Winterstead, but I expect you to have the proper dose of veritaserum ready." Umbridge demanded.

"I will oblige." Severus said. Umbridge smiled.

"Good." The pink clad toad said before walking off.

Severus continued until he entered Dumbledore's office.

"Albus. The High Inquisitor will be interrogating Flora Winterstead with veritaserum as soon as she can find Flora." Severus said urgently.

"A test I am sure Miss Winterstead shall pass." Albus said with a chuckle.

"She now believes that the Dark Lord has returned." Severus revealed.

"Then I am sure you know what to do." Dumbledore said. "I did have you brew the false draught in case this were to happen to any of our vital pieces to the puzzle."

"Vital piece of the puzzle." Severus scoffed. "I suppose that is all every student in this school is to you, of course."

"What are you implying, Severus?" Dumbledore asked.

"I hardly give a damn about your mission to stop the Dark Lord! You can no longer convince me to allow Miss Winterstead to be forcibly married to a man such as Amelio Dolohov." Severus said.

"Severus, what is the meaning of this?"

"I will have no part in allowing Miss Winterstead to marry a Death Eater simply so her father can prove his loyalty, I will even go as far take preventative measures." Severus explained.

"Since when have you cared?" Dumbledore asked cooly. Severus strode to his desk and glared down at him. "You must admit, this is a new development."

"I have cared since Flora Winterstead has been a bright student, a capable witch, and a woman who I am sharing a bed with and I intend to do so for a very long time." Severus watched Dumbledore become taken aback. "She is not yours to exploit."

"I warned you not to get attached." Albus said. "But here we are, fighting over a woman who will make the end of Voldemort much easier when she has Amelio Dolohov's child."

"You can remain indifferent, but do not be surprised when I stop this wedding from happening." Severus said. "What reason did you summon me?"

"Harry will require more occlumency lessons after the holidays, as I am sure you have gathered." Dumbledore said. "You two of you will have to lower your hostilities towards each other if he is to be successful."

"As I collected." Severus said.

"Good. Now all that has to be done is you cutting your ties with Flora Winterstead. You might want to repair her hymen, Death Eaters are still very conservative when it comes to their marriage." Dumbledore said.

"You can ignore my intentions, you can ignore my proclamations, you can ignore the fact that I will not be so dismissive as to lose another woman, one who is actually mine, to someone the likes of Amelio Dolohov." Severus paused, glaring at the headmaster before him. "But don't be surprised when your plans don't fall quite into place."

"Do you love her, Severus?" Ablus asked, his voice sounding alarmed at Severus' newfound passion.

"I don't know." Severus said. There was silence.

Albus Dumbledore feared his greatest leverage on Severus Snape might have become a thing of the past. But at the unsure answer of Severus Snape, he knew he still had the strings to make his puppet-spy dance.

"The fact you insist on defending the girl leads me to believe you do." Albus said. "You will have to convey this to Lord Voldemort before the year is out. I'm sure the Dolohovs will appreciate if you are the new link to this plan, they would not be too keen on her mother's muggle born status."

"If that is what must be done, consider it so." Severus said.

"If you are to replace Amelio Dolohov, do make sure you do not lose her before then." Dumbledore warned. Severus walked out of Albus' office, his head swirling with all that was, all that would happen, and all that could be.

But for now, upon entering his chamber, he would appreciate the brilliant creature who slept in his bed as he brought some of the ungraded papers into his chamber.

He graded just as mercilessly as he always did, his quill constantly darting across several pages of third year Gryffindor's essays.

Even with his focus on grading, Dumbledore's words kept coming up in his mind.

Did he love Flora Winterstead?

Giving it much thought, he would have to say this.

In a way.


	14. Chapter 14

Two days had passed. Flora spent as much time as she could in her potion master's bed. She needed him to distract herself from her own hardships.

She was walking to the Great Hall for lunch when she felt someone grab the back of her sweater. Flora gasped and stopped.

"Miss Winterstead, you are coming with me." Professor Umbridge said, letting go and then roughly grabbing her wrist and dragged Flora to her office. She handed Flora a small bottle, parchment, and a quill. "Drink it."

Flora obeyed, drinking the bottle's contents. It was veritaserum, she was going to be investigated under the use of veritaserum. Not this, not with her new beliefs, not with her suffering because of her mother's sentence.

"Good girl." Dolores said. "Where are the Order of the Phoenix's headquarters?"

"I don't know." Flora answered.

"Write your responses down on the parchment." Professor Umbridge demanded. Flora obeyed, taking the quill and writing her reply. "Do you feel any negative emotions towards Helen Winterstead's five year sentence to Azkaban?"

"No, professor." Flora said before writing down her quote.

"Do you believe that he who must not be named has returned?" Dolores inquired.

"No." Flora said before writing her response down, starting to feel the sharp ache in her hand.

She watched as her hand slowly became cut with her responses. Flora finally saw the results.

"You are excused." Dolores Umbridge said, chuckling as Flora left the room, her assaulted hand resting in the other.

Flora pulled her sweater sleeve down so it covered her cut up hand when she entered the Great Hall. It was strange seeing it so vacant, there couldn't have been more than ten students other than herself. She ate a small bowl of soup and left promptly after she finished.

Flora was almost back to the Slytherin common room when she saw Severus. She stared at him and burst into tears.

"How did you fake the Veritaserum?" Flora asked. Severus didn't answer. He wrapped his arm around her and guided her into his office, sitting her down at the chair in front of his desk.

"Show me your hand." Severus said after noticing Flora doing the best she could to hide her left hand. She revealed it before Severus took it in his own hands. He grabbed his wand and silently summoned a healing potion he specifically designed for black quill injuries. He spread a few drops of the potion onto Flora's sensitive hand. Within a few moments, the scratches were gone before they could progress into worse.

"Thank you, I owe you." Flora said. "I could have been expelled."

"She told me that you were to be interrogated and that she required a bottle of veritaserum, I gave her a false draught. She said if you were to reveal answers the Ministry found unsavory, you would have joined your mother in Azkaban." Severus explained.

"I owe you more than I thought." Flora said.

"Perhaps we can discuss repayment later." Severus said. "But for now, I believe it is time for you to know something."

Flora looked at him, unsure of what he meant.

"I was originally instructed by Albus Dumbledore to keep this secret, but I am not keen to abide by his wishes. You have the right to know." Severus said. "With your mother in Azkaban, and the threat he who must not be named presents is growing, your father has been lead to believe that the Death Eaters will come out the winners when all is said and done." Severus had Flora's small hand in both of his, she could feel a little sweat on his palms. "The default plan is that after you are finished with your schooling, your father will take you to the Malfoy Manor, where you will marry Amelio Dolohov. Just as a way to prove his loyalty to you know who."

Flora was confused. Unsure of what to make of all of this. She couldn't imagine her father taking such a big gamble. She needed proof, and she knew just how to get it.

"I'll be in the Slytherin common room if you need me." Flora said with a dainty, defeated voice.

"Flora-" But Severus was interrupted when Flora pulled out her wand at an unnerving speed and pointed it right at him.

"Legilimens!" Flora shouted.

She found what she needed quickly enough. He was truthful, that was what he was told. She broke her concentration and saw that Severus Snape, at this very moment, was an incredibly unhappy man.

"Be angry with me all you want." Flora said permissively. "I apologize for not trusting you."

"You will never use legilimency on me again." Severus snarled.

"If you were in my position you would have done the same! I've lost a safe place to go to school, my mother is in Azkaban, and now, my father wants to marry me off to Amelio bloody Dolohov to cover his ass!" Flora shouted.

She never shouted.

Especially not at him.

"My life has been turned upside down, and royally fucked!" Flora continued, now cussing out of anger, another rarity. "I have no ability to comprehend the fucked things in life because they've never happened to me before this year! I'll leave if you-"

"Flora, don't be ridiculous." Severus. "My intention was not to give you news and show you the door, my intention was to ask you if you would like to hear the alternative decision."

"Of course I would like to hear the alternative decision! I was a first year when a towering, seventh year Amelio came up to me and started calling my mum a mudblood and shouting that I was too impure to be in Slytherin! He is vile, pretentious, narcissistic, abusive-"

"Stop rambling and you might be able to hear your alternative!" Severus raised his voice, not by much, but enough that Flora was shocked enough to shut her panicked, rambling mouth. "I am acting as a spy for Dumbledore and I will be getting in contact with the Dark Lord soon enough." Severus pulled his left sleeve up, revealing the dark mark. It was blackened, alive, and thriving. "Flora, I am of a higher status among the Death Eaters than Amelio Dolohov. I can keep you safe when he cannot, and he will not."

"Severus." Flora said out of gentle shock. She watched him pull something out of his pocket. She gasped when she saw that it was a small, black velvet box. He opened it, revealing a modestly beautiful pearl ring with a silver setting.

"Flora, please, be my wife." Severus said, the slightest hint of begging in his voice. "When the year is done, wear this ring on your left hand, let me keep you safe."

Flora burst into tears before putting her hands on the sides of Severus' face and kissed him long and deep, when she broke the kiss, she nodded, the muscles in her cheeks tight from her sweet, unwavering smile.

"Yes." Flora said, blubbering behind tears of joy. She was immeasurably thankful that despite the tragedy of the world around her, she had Severus. A man not known for his nobility, chivalry, or even basic human decency, felt the need to give her that and more.


	15. Chapter 15

Carson Winterstead was distraught over what he was having to do. There was now more he had to do than marrying his daughter off to a boy who Flora would be afraid of.

He had convinced Minister Fudge to allow him an "inspection" of Azkaban to see its conditions after the dementors' revolt and change of sides.

But what he was really doing was unforgivable.

He unlocked his wife's cell, and found her just as proud and steadfast as she always was. She looked at him, her brown eyes burned through Carson with a glare of animosity that he had been under since Flora turned sixteen.

"Why are you here?" Helen asked, her voice cold and harsh.

"I cannot allow you to put our daughter in danger once you leave. She does not deserve your carelessness." Carson said. "I love you, but our daughter comes first. The Minister has allowed me to extend your sentence."

"How long?" Helen said, her inability to care came across loud and clear in her voice, it was almost as if she was bored.

"Avada Kedava." Carson said weakly after quickly pulling out his wand.

His wife was dead by his hand, just as the Dark Lord demanded.

* * *

There was a sharp wail in the Great Hall on the nineteenth of December.

Severus, who was shocked out of his thoughts, noticed that Dolores Umbridge was walking away from a horridly distraught Flora.

Severus sprang out of his seat, rushing towards Flora, Minerva and Pomona not far behind.

"Miss Winterstead." Severus said. Flora continued to scream and cry, she eventually lost her balance and Severus found himself catching her. He removed her from the stool and brought her down to the floor where she could slump in his arms. "What's happened?"

"My mum!" Flora said coherently enough that the professors surrounding her could just barely understand. "She's dead!"

"No." Minerva said to herself gravely. "Albus!" She said to the headmaster who just entered the Great Hall. "Helen Winterstead is dead!"

"Poppy, take her to the hospital wing." Albus instructed. Madame Pomfrey used a spell to create an invisible stretcher beneath Flora. Madame Pomfrey then rushed Flora to the hospital wing.

"Albus, you know Ministry members will be here to take the girl away on the order of Dolores." Minerva said with concern.

"Dolores would not cross Carson Winterstead in such a way as to expel his daughter simply for grieving." Albus assured. "He too must be grieving with no end." Dumbledore looked at Severus. "Go fetch Dolores, we need to know how Helen died with no dementors to despair her into the grave." Dumbledore said. Both he and Severus knew the truth about Helen's death and its cause the moment they heard Flora's piercing wail.

Severus did as was bid of him, barging into Dolores' office, finding her having a cup of tea, looking completely unaffected by anything that transpired today.

"The Headmaster wishes you to explain why he was not informed of Helen Winterstead's death." Severus said.

"The Daily Prophet should have covered it tomor-" Umbridge was interrupted.

"Dumbledore is not very impressed with the little stunt you pulled in the Great Hall this morning, and neither am I. He wants answers, as does every other Professor who was left terrified by Miss Winterstead's reaction." Severus spoke, not allowing his loathing to seep out into his voice.

"I'll even give you the official report I was sent." Dolores said. She pulled out her wand. "Accio death report." The parchment flew into her hand and she gave it to Severus. "Anything else?" She asked, her voice strangely lively.

How Severus would enjoy sending curses at the fat toad before him.

"No." He said, allowing his resentment to slip out slightly, seeing the smallest change in Dolores' expression, a glint of fear replaced part of her hubris. Severus left the office, and made his way to the Great Hall, his teeth clenched and hand crumpling the parchment slightly.

Flora would become more than just his student and lover, she would now have to be under his watchful eye. She would try to cause damage, whether to herself or others. Or at least, that was his reaction when he lost his mother.

He would have to support her, but he feared he didn't know how. She recovered quick, but those were from things very different than her mother's death.

"Dolores gave me this." Severus said upon his return to the Great Hall./ He read the parchment out loud. "Dear Madam Undersecretary,

On the eighteenth of December at four sixteen in the morning, Helen Jane Winterstead died of thirst and starvation inside her cell in Azkaban. You will tell Flora Marie Winterstead of her mother's death, but make no attempt to punish or expel her from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry if she grieves.

Minister of Defense, Carson Donovan Winterstead, will be sending you reports with details of when and where the funeral will take place.

Best wishes,

Cornelius Fudge, Minister of Magic."

Severus gave the parchment to Albus after reading it. Albus and Severus exchanged a quick glance, the report was a lie, Helen Winterstead was murdered. How Carson Winterstead was able to fabricate the murder with starvation.

Albus and Severus now knew that Carson Winterstead was in deeper than they originally hoped.

"Minerva, go see if Poppy requires assistance. Severus, write to Natasha Purewright, instruct her to keep a close eye on Flora when you cannot. In the meantime, I will be contacting the aurors we have in place at the Ministry to further investigate the death of Helen Winterstead. We cannot afford to be accepting of the Minister's provided information." Dumbledore said.

But before they dispersed, an owl dropped a letter at the closest table. Albus immediately grabbed it and opened the envelope. He pulled the letter out, reading it carefully.

"It would seem Harry Potter saw exactly what the Ministry reported the death as." Albus said gravely. "Helen Winterstead was starved to death."

Severus could see that Lord Voldemort was now back to health enough to put not only truths into people's minds, but lies as well.


	16. Chapter 16

The next time Severus saw Flora was when she was staring out at the frozen over Black Lake from its shore. It was Christmas Day, and she finally had been evaluated as well enough to venture back into the cruel world. She had her screams, she cried for the vast majority of the time until the twenty third of December.

Her father had not come to visit her, and in her hand, she held a crumpled up gossip section of the December 20th Daily Prophet that she finally was able to read. Rita Skeeter, as per usual, had overstepped her boundaries.

Flora heard quiet footsteps behind her. She turned around and saw her professor-fiancé. He was not permitted to visit her during the several days, but now that he saw her, he could see the unsurprising impact just on her face, bare of makeup, dark bags under her eyes, and a loss of light in them.

"The bitch wrote about my mother and I." Flora said bitterly. She tried to flatten the crumpled piece of paper, but her hands were shaking to the point she dropped the crumpled paper on the ground. She started crying, not just over the loss of power to even flatten a crumpled piece of paper, but everything, that paper was just the one little thing that tipped her emotional scale. "I'm sure you've read about it though." She sobbed. "Helen Winterstead dies of starvation, inside sources in Hogwarts reveal Flora Winterstead has been placed under Hogwart's nurse, Madam Promfrey's, supervision and is currently receiving care for her completely diminished mental health." Flora clenched her jaw. "Not only is Dolores bloody fucking Umbridge making my life a living, fucking hell, but now she's selling stories Rita Skeeter, that fucking souless, beetle fucking whore, stories." Flora rambled on, her generally well spoken sentences had grown lost in her anger and sadness. Flora grabbed one of the stones in front of her feet and chucked it out at the lake, leaving the ice relatively unaltered and unbroken. "Fuck!"

"Flora, follow me, if Dolores hears you shouting obscenities, she'll happily punish you." Severus said.

"I don't care! I don't fucking care!" Flora shouted louder. Severus covered Flora's mouth with his hand. Flora kept trying to shout different curses, but after a minute or two, she gave up. Severus uncovered his hand, and she stood there, weak, defeated, powerless to keep her own emotions hidden, her most practiced skill, and she couldn't even manage it.

"Come to my office, let me be here for you." Severus said, his voice weak with understanding and wanting better for the woman he was to marry than what he had.

That was one of many missions Severus Snape had at the moment. He had never been in anyone's grace, but Flora, despite being in the graces of many, remained modest, yet her recent experiences with falling finally had come to a place that she had landed in the bottom. She knew loss, he knew more, but he knew the great loss she recently began to suffer from.

The unfairness of life was now finding their way into Flora Winterstead's story. He knew he couldn't stop it, there was no stopping pain, but he suffered alone.

Flora Winterstead was one of few people who were exempt from his rule of treat people as life has treated him, remind them life isn't fair, yet it continues on.

He held Flora in a higher regard. With the love she gave him, the feeling of being wanted she had blessed him with, her warm body that had become one with his, and the appreciation and the developing love he held for her made him more compassionate than he had been in a very long time.

He was to wed her to protect her, he was the one protection she had left. Her father, a supporter of Voldemort out of cowardice, killed his wife and would marry Flora off to a narcissistic leech, was not the protector he was supposed to be.

Severus knew the responsibility he put on himself, but as long as she remained at least civil, Severus was ready to take such a burden of responsibility.

Very few people were privileged enough to know the protective side of Severus Snape.

Severus and Flora walked together down to the dungeons and eventually into his chamber. Severus took Flora's hand and laid her down, soon joining her, she weakly nestled up against him and wept in his arms. Severus held her solemnly, watching herself cry herself to sleep, and was holding her when she woke. She gave him the saddest little smile, a smile of gratitude, and it was followed with a chaste kiss on her fiancé's lips.

"Merry Christmas." Flora said weakly.

"And a tolerable, stable new year." Severus said. Flora let out a short giggle, the slight hint of happiness faded before Severus's eyes.

The rest of the day was a pattern of Flora crying, sleeping, and sometimes telling short anecdotes about her mother. When the time she had to leave and return to the lonely Slytherin common room, she sobbed on the way out, she didn't want to be alone.

There was a short, fleeting thought of her thinking about how in the future, after she and Severus were married, how there would be nights they shared together.

Flora prayed to herself, praying that she would make it that far.

Flora dreamed that night, how such a lovely dream was formulated after her loss, she had no idea, but the sweet, happy, innocent beauty of her and her potion's professor in the breakfast nook, Flora making the classic breakfast of tea and crumpets for her husband while he read off interesting and important articles from The Daily Prophet. The companionship they share was no longer just that of lovers and that of a protector and what he was protecting, it was friendship as well. It was so domestic, but Flora was happily so.

The hope of achieving that happiness in her dream in reality seemed impossible to her.


	17. Chapter 17

Flora was sad, but also incredibly happy.

The day she spent with Severus helped her a lot. She grieved, but she was getting more stable by the day. It was the twenty eighth of December, she was overwhelmed with letters from friends, family, acquaintances, and even people she didn't even know. She was determined to reply to them all before the holidays were over.

She had many letters from various Order members that she knew from her childhood. At the moment, she was in Severus' chamber reading a letter Sirius Black, a man she never met, wrote to her not only giving her his sorrow for her mother's loss, but also stories of Helen's valor in battle, her humor, her charm, her passion.

"Severus. You never told me Sirius Black was in the Order." Flora said upon finishing the letter. He stopped organizing his potion ingredients and his eyes darted at her and burned through her with an anger she could only imagine Gryffindors suffered.

"Sirius Black is still in the Order." Severus said after the heat of his eyes cooled down.

"I take it you're not fond of him." Flora assumed.

"'Not fond' would be one of the greatest euphemisms ever made." Severus said.

"Forgive me." Flora said. "His letter was the best one I've gotten. I got to hear about my mother's time in the Order. She never really talked about her time too much."

"It's a good thing pleasant with you." Severus said. "I would of had to hex him if he wasn't."

"Okay, you really don't like him and I won't touch on the subject." Flora said. "I think that's enough letters for now." Flora put her letters back in her bag and stood up from the desk chair. "So what was that potion you were telling me about?"

Severus' annoyance faded and turned into a little smirk. He gave her a bottle of red, creamy fluid that glowed.

"What is this?" Flora asked.

"Drink it and find out." Severus said. Flora slowly opened the bottle, a steam rose from the bottle that smelled so wonderful that Flora simply had to drink it and she did so very quickly. "The potion's effects should start in a minute or so."

Flora helped Severus with his organizing for a little bit before her cunt was growing aroused like never before. She tried to keep a straight face, but she was struggling. Her hands began to shake and she squeaked behind closed lips. Her arousal within two minutes grew so unbearable that she couldn't stand up and clung to Severus so she didn't fall to the floor.

"Is there a problem, Miss Winterstead?" Severus asked, pretending not to acknowledge what the potion was doing to her.

"Please! Fuck me!" Flora begged.

"Fucking you right away? No, that's no fun for either of us." Severus said.

"You gave me a lust potion! I'm on the edge of coming because of it! Please! Fuck me!" She plead pathetically. "I thought lust potions were illegal!"

"They are, It only works if you lust the person who brewed it." Severus said. "Therefore consent issues are not found."

"Severus, fuck me!" Flora whined.

"Then do as you're told." Severus said. "Take those prudish clothes off and wait for my instruction."

Flora rushed to start taking her clothes off, but Severus grabbed her arm, his tongue clicked on the roof of his mouth a few times in disapproval.

"Slowly." Severus instructed before backing away.

Flora slowly took off her sweater, her boots, her jeans, and lastly her undergarments. Severus watched with a straight face as Flora trembled with lust before him. He went to his desk and pulled the chair out and sat down.

"Bend over my knee." Severus ordered. Flora did as she was told and she was bent over her professor's knee, whimpering when his hand was placed on her ass. "Don't expect the seduction of your potion's master to go unpunished." He said before giving her a hard slap on the ass, loving her gasp and the way her ass jiggled. "I am still obligated to punish my students when they break the rules." He said before giving her another slap.

"Severus!" Flora moaned. "Oh fuck yes!"

"Enjoying this? I'm trying to punish you. Perhaps I'm not slapping your ass hard enough." Severus warned before slapping her ass harder. His finger traced between her labia, and was wet when it left the warm, flushed labia. "Still enjoying this, I see. Are you a masochist?" Severus asked, Flora couldn't only whimper in protest for the fact he wasn't fucking her. "I think you are. Perhaps this isn't the appropriate punishment. Lay down on the bed, I know how to truly punish a girl who likes hard slaps against her lovely ass."

Flora stood up and did as she was told. Laying down on the bed, she immediately spread her legs and just when she was about to touch herself, Severus casted a silent incarcerous on each of her wrists, binding them to the bed. Flora mewled in protest.

"Let me show you how masochists are truly punished." Severus said. "You bring them to the brink of pleasure, and then you stop just before they come undone."

"Oh, Severus! Please, just let me cum, it's unbearable!" Flora begged. "Please! I'll do anything!"

"You need to be punished. You seduced your professor, lured me in with such a pretty face." Severus stroked her face and down her neck. "Lovely breasts, round hips, and a tight little orifice between your legs that has bewitched me to return." Severus didn't move further than just above the patch of hair between Flora's legs. Flora whined in protest, he was a tease and made matters worse with that potion.

Severus then rubbed her clit painfully slow. Flora didn't think she could get closer to the edge, but here she was screaming her professor's name but Severus knew exactly when to stop rubbing her clit so she didn't come undone.

"Why are you torturing me?" Flora mewled.

Severus rubbed Flora's clit on and off for another hour while telling her how horribly behaved she was, bringing her to the edge but removing his hand before she fell apart. Flora was in tears, her body was more flushed than what was probably healthy, and her cunt was wetter and throbbing harder than ever before.

Severus finally determined that his sweet Flora finally learned her lesson. Undoing his trousers and removing his hard cock, he climbed on top of Flora and slid easily inside her slick, tight pussy all the way to the hilt.

Flora screamed and cried, he finally was inside her. She began thrusting with him, gyrating, bucking, desperate for him to make her cum. She was hornier now than any time during the second week of her cycle.

This was the second week of her cycle.

Actually, it was day thirteen!

She hadn't taken the proper dosage of birth control, she would have if things were normal that fateful nineteenth of December, but here she was, neither her or Severus were protected, and the frightening thing was that she was even hornier realizing the fact.

She couldn't get pregnant, she had enough months of school left she would show and she would be doomed. Severus even more so than her.

But why was the risk so thrilling?

She came undone with a magnitude she never felt. Her cunt throbbed with vigor, her body tensed, her cries would have been heard in the corridor outside the potion's classroom if there wasn't a spell cast to prevent that, and from between her legs came clear, projectile fluid that soaked the front of her potion master's clothes.

In her afterglow, she felt Severus' warm cum fill her and for the most part stayed inside even after Severus pulled out.

Severus laid beside her, not looking at all angry she soaked him, which confused her.

"It's natural." Severus assured her, knowing what she was thinking. He cupped her face with his hand before kissing her. When his lips left her's, she was already out like a light.

Then it donned on him.

He had not administered her birth control.

An easy fix, but still terrifying all the same.


	18. Chapter 18

"Oh thank god!" Flora exclaimed the next morning when having tea with Severus. "I knew muggles had some sort of morning after thing in case there was a hiccup, but bless you for waking up so early to make me this potion."

"No need, I can't have you walking around Hogwarts pregnant, it's merely a cautionary measure." Severus explained. Flora, remembering how amazing the risk was, something she never realized made her as wanton as it did, blushed at the idea of them possibly doing it again, it couldn't happen, but it was so enticing.

"You seem embarrassed." Severus said. Flora looked up at him and smiled before having the first bite of her breakfast. "Flora, I have spent enough time with you to know you're hiding something."

"It's really nothing, just a happy thought about yesterday." Flora replied.

"Would you care to elaborate?" Severus asked.

"Promise you won't get angry?" Flora asked. When Severus continued to look at her with a determined expression, it was enough for her to know he silently promised. "I really loved all of yesterday. But there was something that really stood out." Flora said. Her cheeks tightened and she blushed harder, she didn't know if she could say it out loud. "I loved the risk." She sputtered out with all the strength mustered to say it. "I really, really got off on it."

Severus raised an eyebrow. Flora's breath grew shallow. What would he say? Flora was terrified. Why though? He probably wasn't going to loathe her because of something she got off to, that he did to her.

"Flora, I will have you know that your embarrassment of the most trivial things is as adorable as it is pathetic." Severus admitted. "There is not a man or woman alive who doesn't become enraptured by the risk." Severus said. "I assume, given your father and his need to plan every detail in life that isn't the danger of his work, you are probably the most planned child walking in Britain today." Severus's hand ghosted over Flora's before wrapping itself around the small hand on the other side of the table. "The rest of us are born through the moment our parents take one too many risks." He stood up from his seat and stood behind Flora's chair. He craned himself so his lips were at her ear. "Don't fret, Miss Winterstead, it won't be long before we indulge in risk on a daily basis."

Flora's chest was warm, her breasts had a new aching to be touched. She let out a pretty, yet distressed giggle. To have certain needs not met was growing more torturous each passing moment.

"I wait in anticipation for the first day." Flora's voice was warm and rich. "And the days that follow." Flora's little smile afterwards made Severus' heart skip a beat, not that he'd ever admit it. "I look forward to my tabula rasa. From student to a wife and career woman, whatever auror field I might pursue."

"There is a war coming Flora, I would prefer you didn't become an auror." Severus said.

"How foolish of you to say." Flora said with conviction. "When it comes to Death Eaters, no one doesn't fight in a war, if that's what you're trying to prevent me from doing."

"Of course, but with what your father plans to do by the time you're already employed and settled, you should not be fighting to protect the Ministry when you are doomed to fail. It would be the end of you." Severus explained.

"The only thing my father has ever done independently without the help of his pureblood status, money, or power, is murder my mother, Severus. He is going to have to have Death Eaters the likes of Bellatrix Lestrange and Antonin Dolohov to infiltrate the Ministry, and the powerful ones are in Azkaban!" Flora said. "What?" She asked upon seeing Severus' confusion. "You think I'm so stupid as to believe my mother died of starvation?" Flora let out a sarcastic laugh. "You don't die of starvation in Azkaban, you die of despair traditionally, and at the end of someone else's wand now." Flora said. "When were you going to tell me, Severus?"

Severus was silent.

"Nevermind that." Flora said. "I'm sure you would tell me when Albus Dumbledore told you the time was right." Flora sneered.

"Flora." Severus began.

"Perhaps I should talk to Albus Dumbledore myself the next time a tragedy happens." Flora said in a falsely calm voice. "Or perhaps you ought to grow a spine and not always act on his whims." Flora spat before opening the door to leave. "Thank you for breakfast." She said in her normally sweet voice, it was genuine. She gave Severus a small peck on the cheek. She left without another word.

He watched her go. He would never admit to her being right, but he was forced to admit to himself that she was.

Flora walked up to the second story and down the Gargoyle Corridor. She didn't know the password to Dumbledore's office, but her father taught her a spell to override the password. She took out her wand and silently casted the spell. She got on the staircase and walked up to Dumbledore's office. She, out of anger, made the door fly open and hit against the wall. She walked into the office, she had Albus Dumbledore's undivided attention.

"Good morning, Miss Winterstead." He said as if he were unfazed. "I see you aren't in the best of moods."

"We need to talk." Flora said, her voice had a boiling rage that scalded any cheery demeanor of Albus Dumbledore's.

"Very well, sit down." Albus said. Flora did, sitting in the chair in front of his desk. "What brings you here?"

"Your insensitivity to both I and Severus Snape." Flora's voice bitter with resentment.

Albus knew he would be in his office a while longer than he originally planned.


	19. Chapter 19

"You've kept secrets from me." Flora snarled. "You have kept the secret of my supposed arranged marriage to Amelio Dolohov, you have forced Severus into a position where he for some beautiful reason feels the need to replace Amelio as my suitor, and you allow my father to murder my mother." Flora's glare was burning Albus as if he were his phoenix during its rebirth. "Give me one good reason why I shouldn't turn you and my father in."

"So Severus is exempt." Albus stated.

"Severus Snape is mine. I have lain with him, I have seen the ring he plans to put on my finger. He also had the common decency about the marriage plot. He is spared because I don't like having the people I care for taken away from me." Flora replied.

"Who would the Ministry believe? You, a seventh year girl who lost her mother and recently has received attention for failing mental health, or your father and I, well established and respected wizards?" Albus asked.

"I can prove both you and my father criminals with a flick of my wand. Not even using legilimency, just revealing the tampered records." Flora said.

"The magic of a seventh year student can now apparently solve crimes committed by head Ministry executives." Albus said.

"You underestimate me." Flora said. "Do you not remember your little rise and fall in November? Also, how do I get into your office without the use of a password?" Flora bragged. It felt good to brag.

"All luck." Albus said. "That's all your existence is as far as I've observed. Pretty girl with a wealthy father who has incredible talent in magic. When faced with the prospect of being married to a Death Eater, the otherwise dedicated Professor who she seduced offers to marry her instead. How dull can a woman's life story get?"

"Otherwise dedicated?" Flora asked. She scoffed.

"Has he ever called you Lily?" Albus asked. Flora could feel the confidence due to her rage begin to erode. Albus could see it in her eyes. "You may have been so smart as to figure out how your mother was really murdered, but when it comes to the more subtle, intricate details in life, you are blind." Flora's stance softened, her pride destroyed. "Lily Potter will forever be held dearer to his heart than any soul ever could."

Flora gasped. Lily Potter. Harry's mother! He was in love with Harry Potter's mother? But how did they know each other? They went to school together, but they were in two different houses. She knew Sirius Black, who Severus obviously loathed with a vengeance.

She realized that hatred was derived probably from him being friends with James Potter, Lily's husband.

"Perhaps you ought to reconsider accepting Severus' proposal." Albus said. "For your high marks and skill, you are remarkably dull if you ever thought he loved you. Perhaps cared, but do you want to spend the rest of your life being called Lily, being in unspoken comparisons to Lily, living under a dead woman's shadow?"

Albus was going to say more, but Flora had already left the office in tears.

His plan worked.

Flora would remain Amelio Dolohov's betrothed, and the leverage Albus had on Severus with a dead woman's name now had relevance again.

Flora walked into that office with an inflated ego that had not just been popped, but completely annihilated. She kept her tears to herself, not wanting to attract any attention. It served her right, she was not as strong, loved, or brilliant as she was lead to believe.

She walked to the Black Lake. She sat down on a log and stared out into the field of ice. The cold air felt good in her lungs, it calmed her. She waited there, thinking about what was to become of her.

She knew she needed to do what needed to be done. And with a few minutes of sitting on the log, she had the cruel courage to speak her mind.

She passed Severus on her way back to his chamber. She grabbed his upper arm to stop him.

"Severus. I will forever appreciate your kindness. But I cannot marry you. It would be cruel to you." Flora said, her voice choked up.

"I think another trip to the hospital wing might be in order-" Severus said before he was interrupted.

"How you were such a saint as to give me a ring that you would much rather would of had on Lily Potter's finger, I cannot comprehend. I-"

"You were in Dumbledore's office, weren't you?" Severus asked. There was no answer. "Most underestimate the headmaster. Take him for a bumbling, old fool. I see you found out he still has his wits about him."

"But-"

"Flora Winterstead, do not try to change my mind with foolish babbling, you will not succeed. We are still engaged to be married, you will still be under my protection, and you will make conscious efforts in the future not to make a fool out of yourself or I. Is that understood?" Severus explained.

"Severus, I-"

"You need to relearn to control your anger." Severus said. "While your passion and concern are flattering, you will end up dead if you express it to Death Eaters." Severus said in a barely audible whisper.

"I-"

"Flora, calm yourself. You-"

"Do you not realize that perhaps I might want to die?" Flora whispered. "My mother's dead, my father's a Death Eater, I'm going to be married after the school year is over, either to a psychopath or my potion's professor. Nothing scares me more than the life I will live after Hogwarts. I don't want to live after I leave Hogwarts for good."

The sad part was that Severus understood, but had no idea how to help her future be brighter besides having her under his protection.

He watched her leave his side, making her way back to the Slytherin common room. The two of them were hopeless to make each other truly happy. They learned that after the information shared with them and exchanged between them.

Severus stood watching, his breath stopping when Flora looked back, the hopelessness she realized had contorted her otherwise beautiful face into something tragic and broken. She turned back around and continued to grow further and further from Severus.


	20. Chapter 20

The holidays finally came to their conclusion. Flora's mood had not changed. She still spent time with Severus, but they didn't talk much. In fact, Severus actually forced her into at least tea at breakfast everyday so he could evaluate whether her emotions were a threat to her life.

Flora didn't go to the train station to greet her friends. She didn't want to see them. She, at the moment, was alone in the Slytherin common room studying. That was most of what she did these days, even more than before. She hadn't slept for a full thirty six hours, and thirty of those hours had been dedicated to studying. Looking blankly at her notes and textbooks, absorbing what information she could.

She had gone over her notes from this year twice over during the several days she dedicated to her studies.

She realized there was an after-holiday feast taking place in the Great Hall in a couple of hours. Flora put away her notes and finally planned on washing her hair after six days of not doing so. Severus had kept telling her to wash her hair (he was the one to talk) for a few days. Flora looked at the dormitory shower and scoffed, she knew nothing would get accomplished if she stepped in that shower. But she needed to tidy up her appearance so people didn't think she had gone off the deep end like Rita Skeeter was continually writing about.

She collected her cosmetic and hygiene bag and her robes and put them in a book bag before heading to Severus Snape's office.

She knocked, standing unceremoniously as she waited for Severus to open up the door. When he did, he looked at her and knew what she needed. She let her into his office and chambers without a word.

"Don't you have a shower in your dormitory?" Severus asked. Flora didn't look at him as she set her bag on the bathroom counter and grabbed her bathing supplies.

"Student showers can't fit two people, now can they?" Flora said as she set her soaps and shampoos at the ledge of the bath. She looked at her professor, her expression neither angered or happy. "Perhaps we both could use some caring from each other."

"Very well." Severus said. He watched her lift her sweater before a deep, under tended, greedy lust seemingly forced Severus to stop Flora from removing her clothing. She turned around, her eyes confused at the abrasiveness of his action. "Allow me." He said before he grabbed the hem of Flora's sweater and slowly removed it from her torso, revealing that the girl was braless.

Her nipples were soft, expanded, and like butter under Severus's wandering fingers. He pulled out his wand and casted a spell to do the rest of the clothing removal for him, he was too eager to finally touch those heaving breasts that he had been deprived of for what seemed like ages. Severus finally had indulged himself enough he could give Flora better access to remove his clothes. Being only in the white, long sleeved shirt he wore under his robes and coat, there was less for Flora to remove. He watched her fumble around with the first few buttons, but eventually grew tired of how stiff they were and simple ripped the shirt down the front, a few buttons popping off.

As Flora lowered herself, her hand traced Severus' front. He was a slender man, but as he began to age past thirty five, there had been a noticeable expansion and slight softening of his midsection. He never particularly cared, as long as he wasn't sharing a similar figure with the Fat Lady, he would be as comfortable in his own skin as he ever was.

But having a temptress like Flora Winterstead enjoying what often was considered a sign of aging, was enough to make any man transitioning from the later years of his physical prime to being middle aged find it a curiosity that was simply arousing. Scars and aging were not only no issue, but seemed more like a blessing to Flora.

His trousers and pants were around his ankles and Flora's salivated lips were wrapped around his hardening cock. Severus couldn't believe how good this woman's plump lips were around his cock, it seemed as though they were made for sucking cock (perhaps Lucius Malfoy's lewd joke directed at Severus several months ago to not to pass up an opportunity to threaten to give Flora a failing grade if she didn't put her 'cock sucking lips' to use had a hint of perverse, immoral wisdom.) Her lips slightly curled around the edges of her teeth to make her mouth a smoother entrance for her potion's master to fuck her pretty little head.

Each little bob of her head took Severus' cock just a little deeper into her mouth. The moment she finally decided to surprise him with forcing herself to deep throat him, she made eye contact for a few seconds before forcing his cock down her throat and she was left gagging with her lips at the hilt. Severus groaned and tossed his head back. Flora made it a few seconds before having to come back up for air. She stood up

Severus watched the saliva drip down her face as she caught her breath. She stood up and walked to the bath to turn on the faucet. Severus found this opportunity grand to use magic to remove his shoes and socks before he made a fool of himself. Flora looked over her shoulder to see Severus' eyes glaring darts at her. She wiggled her ass to coax him, a smirk appearing, making what was a presumably innocent face a beacon of sin.

"Well, don't let me tease you." Flora said with a giggle as she sat down. Severus eagerly joined her, sitting next to her, letting hot, steaming water redden their skin. As if things weren't already hot enough. Flora straddled him and let his cock sink deep inside her pussy. She mewled. The impact of going several days without even a kiss from Severus was now coming back to her. She was needy, not quite so needy as when she was given that lust potion, but there was certainly an ache that needed to be soothed desperately.

Severus indulged in her. His lips sucking her nipples like a starving babe, and his hands holding onto her hips like they were life itself. Her chorus of vocalizing her pleasure was so soothing to Severus' ears as his face was pressed against her soft, smooth tits. Her body when they were in this position, was the most calming, serene, wonderful thing he had known in a long time.

Their undoing was mutual, they understood their patterns, and they made it so they made the beauty of shared pleasure between partners. Flora had a new adoration for Severus when she was the one in control, the way he embraced being nurtured was something so pure that had come out of scandalous acts. Flora rested her hands on his face, his lips stopped sucking her nipples and his face nuzzled its way between her breasts. Both Flora and Severus both wished they could remain like this. The moment was so intimate, creating a small flicker of hope for just those few minutes that Flora held the potion's master to her breasts.

The pair looked each other in the eyes, a smile curved Flora lips for the first time in several days. Severus watched as she climbed off of him, grabbed her shampoo and conditioner, and washed her hair. When she finished, she reached for her wand that was placed next to Severus' at the ledge of the bath and silently summoned Severus' own, often neglected shampoo. She positioned him so his head was placed between her navel and vulva. She soaked his hair and massaged the shampoo into his scalp, taking extra care to massage his temples, smiling when Severus unwittingly, quietly hummed at the tension that was released. She rinsed his hair before having him sit up so she could get out of the bath and dry off. The two of them dried off, drying their hair with simple spells, and redressed before Severus looked at the time. They still had half an hour, more than enough time for Flora to apply some makeup to her face.

"St. Mungos is always an option if you're not ready to face the questions of your peers." Severus reminded Flora as she finished applying her lipstick. She smiled.

"I'm not too worried about other students. They've been perfectly kind to me, even those who openly believe Harry Potter." Flora said. "I'm actually excited. My studies have given me a distraction from my grief, I'll be happy to see them come back in full swing."

During the course of the feast, Flora had heard some interesting comments from Ravenclaw table.

"He washed his hair." A Ravenclaw fifth year mentioned.

"He looks happier too." A seventh year said.

"Perhaps he got laid over the holiday." A sixth year boy assumed, making Flora nearly spit out her pumpkin juice.

"Danny, really, you had to put that image in my head?" The seventh year girl said, smacking him against his arm.

"What? Either someone died or he got in some poor woman's knickers." Danny said.

"Perhaps he disliked Helen Winterstead." The fifth year said.

"Avery!" The seventh year shouted. "Flora probably heard you!"

"What? She found out from Umbridge, I'm sure she can handle a lot after that blow." The fifth year said in defense.

"Anyways, I've actually heard a really stupid rumor when walking past Hufflepuff table." The seventh year girl said. "Apparently, the house elves' newest kitchen gossip is that Snape actually is getting laid."

"Who would, you know, do that with him?" The fifth year asked.

"According to the Hufflepuff, and do remember that house elf gossip tends to have little to no truth in it, the house elves are saying that Flora Winterstead is having sex with Snape." The seventh year whispered quietly, but still loud enough that Flora momentarily was choking on her pumpkin juice. She missed a few snippets of the conversation, but she was relieved to hear what she heard next.

"Flora Winterstead is talked about like she's, I don't know, the Farrah Fawcett of the wizarding world, she's probably not going to fuck that greasy git." The sixth year boy said.

"Well, you never know. Her potion's grade might be failing." Avery said, the trio of Ravenclaws sniggered. "I'm kidding, her daddy could buy Snape off."

Flora was as relieved as she was anxious, and it was a very confusing feeling.


	21. Chapter 21

A/N: Sorry I died for a bit.

The beginning of Flora's last term had given her hope, but she would have to find a way to prevent the rumor of her sleeping with Severus from spreading. She already earned some strange looks when walking down the corridors to her classes, it wouldn't be difficult for anyone to sell that story to Rita Skeeter.

Flora told her friends about the rumors she heard while they were on the way to the class they all shared together, N.E.W.T. Charms. She lied, saying it wasn't true. They gave her several ideas until Charles, of course, gave the most efficient, yet illegal idea.

"Secreseguri being poured into the water supply would end your problem."

"Not only is that illegal, but it takes two months to brew!" Flora said.

"How do you think my father got to be the Minister's personal potion master if he didn't know how to quicken a potion's brewing time?" Charles asked.

"If we got caught, I'd be sent to bloody Azkaban!" Flora said. "How are we going to get the ingredients anyways?"

"You're the one who has detention with Snape every night until the day you die, I'm sure you could come up with something." Lisa said.

"Do you think I have a death wish?" Flora asked.

"Would you rather be known as Laura Gregor II, or have Snape pissed at you for the rest of the year?" Tanner asked.

"Fine, I'll go to the library and find a book that has the potion." Flora said.

"Can't. It's in the restricted section." Charles said.

"Well, unlike you, Charles-Who-Almost-Got-Us-Caught-When-We-Went-To-Hogsmede-At-Midnight-Last-New-Years, I can maintain a disillusionment charm." Flora said.

"Ouch, no need to be a git." Charles said. "You'll also need potions ingredients, and for some reason, Professor Snape can see through even the best disillusionment charms. Oliver Wood got detention for a month after getting caught trying to get Felix Filicis from Snape's storeroom. So you're going to have to be good."

"I'm sure I can do it. I'll need the instructions of how to quicken the process to be within a day." Flora said.

"Done. You could probably actually find the very same brew quickener in Snape's storeroom. The stuff is worth a fortune, not even my dad uses it on every extensive potion. Pour a little water or something in it to replace the quickener and pray Snape won't realize until you're long gone from Hogwarts."

"Alright. Thank you. I will need some help putting different parts of the potion in different areas of the castle. Are you guys up to that?" Flora asked.

"Of course." Natasha said. "Since when have any of us, well, except you, have been opposed to breaking half the school rules and a few laws?"

"Thank you for your bravery and inability to care about rules." Flora said.

Later in detention, Flora had seduced her way into Severus Snape letting her tie him to the bed. She didn't use any old rope, she used a rope specifically designed to hold down large magical beasts, courtesy of Professor Hagrid being asleep and Flora being able to steal the rope.

So when she went from the dungeons to the first floor to get the ingredients she needed, Severus wouldn't have much of a chance of getting loose.

"I'll be right back." She said with a smirk before licking the head of Severus' cock and leaving the potions master nude and vulnerable.

She went as quickly as she could. She was able to get into her professor's personal storeroom by some form of luck and she opened her bag and looked down the copied ingredients list of the potion she needed.

She hurriedly found everything everything she needed except for the quickener. She scrambled, even trying to magically summon it a few times, to no avail.

"Looking for this, Miss Winterstead?" A frightfully familiar voice said from behind her. Flora gasped and veered to see her professor out of his bonds, fully dressed, and holding the quickener in his hand.

"Fuck." Flora muttered. "You're not going to hear me out on this one, are you?"

"I know you were planning on brewing Secresurgi. An appropriate response to keep the completely true rumor circling around Hogwarts from ending up on the front page, but had you not learned that the quickener in my hand has been sabotaged, you would have wasted risk and time."

"Sabotaged?" Flora asked. "How?"

"Charles Weston is not a fool. He knows he can sell this story and he will be believed. If he didn't help you find a potion, you would have had reasonable suspicion that he sold the story." Severus said. "I heard him talking about it with another Gryffindor. The boy has had a very low opinion of you of since you were unable to accept his Yule Ball invitation."

"What? But Charles has been my friend even before we started Hogwarts." Flora said. "It can't be true, he wouldn't do this to me." Flora scoffed. But she knew he definitely could have. He had treated her strangely after Yule Ball, he didn't write to her the summer before her seventh year, he wouldn't talk to her at any events. "Alright, fine, he would."

"I do find it insulting you came to your friends about the rumor before coming to me." Severus said. "Do you think I wouldn't have allowed you to quiet the rumors of our affair?"

"I don't know. I was just scared. I didn't know how you would react." Flora admitted.

"I will have the potion ready and administered a better way than the plumbing by tomorrow morning. I think you need to realize that I tend to have better ways of resolving conflicts than your little ministry friends." Severus said.

Flora was ashamed, she lowered her head a little, not looking Severus in the eye, her stomach low in her gut and she had the strangest sensation of death being seemingly more inviting than this moment.

Severus shut and locked the storeroom door and backed Flora up against the ladder. Flora adjusted so she sat on one of the steps. Flora spread her legs moaned when Severus kissed her hard, almost forcefully.

"You left me in anticipation. Were you planning to leave me like that for the whole night, or are you actually well mannered?" Severus asked before reaching up her skirt and pulling down her knickers. "Stealing from my storeroom and leaving me naked and bound? You'll be lucky if you can walk properly tomorrow." Severus said while undoing his trousers, pulling out his hard cock, and sliding it between Flora's legs.

Flora grimaced at how hard he fucked her, but it felt so damn good. She mewled repeatedly, she felt so delectably used. This wasn't gentle in the slightest, he was fucking her harder than a Knockturn Alley whore. Tears welled in her eyes, there was the smallest amount of blood between her legs.

Severus came quick. He left her needy and unsatisfied when it came to her own pleasure. But there was something she always found satisfying about Severus filling her pussy, flooding it so full of cum it overflowed and leaked out.

God damn what would have she done without him? He had saved her ass too many times, he satisfied her so much, and he was wonderful in a bizarre, untraditional way.


	22. Chapter 22

Things were quiet, perfectly quiet, just the results Flora wanted. She didn't tell Charles she knew about his game, but she could tell he knew well that she didn't trust him.

Flora, after a surprisingly exciting day in Charms, was walk to lunch when she was grabbed roughly by the sleeve of her robes and pulled aside into one of the spare closets in Hogwarts.

"How did you know?" Charles asked, his eyes burning into hers. She looked up at him and smiled. "How did you find any of the quickener to keep everyone quiet?" His grip tightened on her arm to the point it hurt.

"Professor Snape caught me and he agreed to help me." Flora said, telling the half truth before Charles's grip on her arm tightened even more.

"Perfect little Slytherin whore, aren't you?" Charles spat in her face. "We both know your potions grade isn't suffering, you're still quite capable of potion making. Did he force you? Threaten to lower your perfect grade if he didn't get the first slice?"

"Charles! Stop it! I haven't slept with him!" Flora plead.

"Then explain why he gave you three months of detention? Explain why you suddenly couldn't be around your friends at night? Why is he taking you to you mother's trial and her funeral in a week? Why would he help you hide a rumor if he wasn't guilty?" Charles shouted.

"Charles, stop! I'm not sleeping with him!" Flora was in tears. Charles had enough of her lies and wrapped his hand around her throat and forced her back against the wall.

"You have one more chance. Why are you fucking Professor Snape?" Charles asked.

"I'm not!" Flora cried out. Charles slapped her across the face. It was the first time anyone laid a hand on her.

"Tell anyone of this, anyone at all, and I've got a middleman who can expose you. He owes me a favor, and what better way to repay it than to expose the fact you whore around with your professors." Charles let her go and she scrambled towards the door. "I'll also expect you to be at The Three Broomsticks at eight thirty. Wear something pretty, and make sure it draws attention to your breasts. I've been waiting years to see those things popping out of a shirt, tragedy you put on the prude act."

"I'll do my best, Charles." Flora said timidly.

"No, you won't do your best, you will." Charles said before opening the door slightly, peeping out to see if anyone was around before he walked out.

Flora followed him, but didn't go to the Great Hall for lunch. She went back to the Slytherin common room to find something that could even remotely be approved of by Charles. She sobbed. Charles was her childhood friend, she trusted him, he was like a brother, but here he was now, probably planning on doing things she only vowed to let Severus do. Flora felt weak, and she eventually found a red blouse that Charles would find suitable. Of course, it had to be red, like the Gryffindor who now violently pursued her.

Eight thirty came too early. She snuck out of school and was waiting for Charles in The Three Broomsticks. She kept her cloak covering her breasts, dreading for the moment Charles would force her to uncover.

"Miss Winterstead, are you truly going to cater to the whims of your prudish lover?" Charles snarled when he finally showed up. "Well, off with the cloak."

Flora did as she was told, revealing the cleavage bearing blouse, her breasts straining against the fabric. Charles smile, a repulsive smile she never had seen on him before, but it was similar to one Lucius Malfoy gave her.

"Two firewhiskies." Charles told Madam Rosemerta. They were presented with their drinks and while Charles downed his with hubris, Flora held her shot glass in her trembling hand. "Lighten up, Flora, you're finally with a real man, not some old dungeon bat."

"I'm starting to prefer bats to men." Flora said bitterly.

"We'll see about that once I'm inside." Charles challenged.

"Good luck, there's a reason Slytherins are known for their... snakes." Flora hated the fact she made such an elementary pun, but she was able to ignore it after downing her firewhisky.

"You can hate me all you want, Flora, but you can't lie about his prick being bigger than mine. The man is middle aged, he's losing his drive, a thing like you needs someone in their prime." Charles explained.

"I think men like you have their prime when their blood runs cold." Flora blurted before she could stop herself.

"Why you little-" Charles stopped himself before he drew attention to them. Charles took out a small bag full of galleons and told Madam Rosemerta. "Payment for drinks and for you to keep your mouth shut about the conversation between Miss Winterstead and I." He roughly grabbed Flora by her wrist and dragged her out of The Three Broomsticks.

"Get away from me, you bloody git!" Flora snapped before Charles covered her mouth with this hand and dragged her into an alleyway.

"Don't be scared, the dungeon bat has already broken you in, it won't hurt." Charles assured her.

But a black cloaked figure approached them.

Flora thought it was Severus for a moment, but then the cloaked person lifted their hood, revealing they were a woman. A woman neither Charles or Flora had ever seen in their lives.

She was extremely gaunt in the face, but there was beauty in what looked so skeletal. Her hair was long, thick, and black, and her eyes were dark as well.

"Well, well, what have we here? A little Gryffindor boy touching what doesn't belong to him." The voice cooed cruelly. "I suggest you let her go."

"Or what?" Charles challenged.

"Silencio!" The woman casted on Charles before casting another spell. "Crucio!"

Flora watched in horror, unsure of what to do. Her childhood friend, a boy who turned out to be petty and cruel, was now being tortured in front of her.

"Please, stop it!" Flora sobbed. The woman looked at Flora and stopped.

"Boy, if you tell anyone of this, I will use a worse spell than that on you, got it?" The woman threatened. Charles, who was hardly conscious, let out a defeated moan. "Are you alright?" The woman asked. It seemed like a question she didn't ask often, as if she were the one inflicting pain most of the time.

"Who are you?" Flora asked.

"You'll learn tomorrow, most likely." The woman said with a crazed smile. She then disapparated, leaving Flora and Charles alone at Hogsmede during the night.

Flora ran back to Hogwarts, leaving Charles there to moan in agony, it served him right, Flora supposed. She managed to get back to the Slytherin common room with no trouble, thanks to the disillusionment charm.

When reading the prophet the next morning, the big headline was the mass breakout of Azkaban. Flora began to read over the names and one of the names was matched to the face of the woman who saved her last night.

Flora's blood ran cold when she realized Bellatrix Lestrange was the one who saved her the night before.


End file.
